Department of Health

By Kalon Dr Tsering Wangchuk  

August 10, 2012 10:10 am

Tashi Delek !

One of the foremost initiatives of the Department of Health this year was the introduction of the Tibetan Medicare system on 1 April 2012. This new programme is progressing well in the Tibetan settlements, as more than 8,000 people are availing this service and till now, about 67 people have already claimed the benefits of it. We have also started issuing smart cards for those who have subscribed this healthcare service. We have finished issuing the smart cards in Bylakuppe settlement and the work is underway for the rest of the settlements.

Our second initiative was the appointment of a Health Information system Manager of the department who is a Medical Doctor as well as Public Health expert. We hope that Health data will improve well in future.

One of the challenges facing the health department is the lack of medical doctors in our community. We had revised MBBS bond with the support of the Kashag and in cooperation with Department of education. Three students who have got MBBS reserved seats under the CTA had signed this revised MBBS bond to serve in the Tibetan community after completion of their study. We are now signing this bond with all existing Tibetan medical students and interns. We are also working on to increase their salary and improve their quarter and other facilities to encourage more doctors to serve within our community.

One of our priorities is to create more awareness about the importance of health in our settlements. From this year, we will try our best to commemorate officially all health related events of a year recommended by W.H.O in our community.

Recently on 28 July, we have officially marked the World Hepatitis Day for the first time. Similarly, we will be trying to create more awareness about communicable as well as non communicable diseases in our society.

This year, we had inaugurated a new hospital and new quarter for Medical officer and hospital administrator in Tibetan settlement, Kollegal . And we are also building a new hospital in Ladakh which will be finished soon.  I am going to visit Ladakh at the end of this month to inaugurate a hospital.
 
Moreover, the health departments in collaboration with the Delek hospital have already conducted the 1st phase of our project called (TB REACH). We went to various schools and monasteries in Himachal, Mundgod and Bylakuppe and conducted free TB checkups. Under this TB reach project, we provided a new Ambulance to our unit hospital Hunsur. We have also provided a latest Diagnostic machine called GENE XPERT to detect Multi drug resistant TB to our hospital in Mundgod and Bylakuppe.

Regarding my official visits abroad, I visited Taiwan in April this year during which I met with Taiwanese minister of health and the former minister of health. I also met with the Taiwan Dental Association as well as various Buddhist groups and other important health and medical professionals from Taiwan. We discussed bringing about more collaboration in health and medicine between the Taiwan and Tibetan Voluntary Health Association.

I also went to Poland and attended an international conference at Warsaw Medical University in Warsaw, Poland. In the mean time, I also met with officials from Polish ministry of health and education, and we discussed ways through which Poland can help the Tibetan community in exile in the field of health.

The department of health has also tried to introduce healthcare services in the remote and distant Tibetan settlements in India through Tele-medicine. But due to the lack of proper internet and phone connectivity in north-east India, we were not able to introduce the programme till now.  But we are doing what we could to introduce this system in the Tibetan settlements in Orissa and Mainpat.

In conclusion, I would like to say that the officials and staff of the Department of Health are all doing possible efforts to create a healthy Tibetan community. And at the same time, I want to appeal to the local heads of the Tibetan camps as well as monasteries and schools to continue their good work by encouraging the people to be more health conscious.