Research & Development Department

Since the re-establishment of Men- Tsee-Khang (MTK) in 1961, MTK has worked consistently and furiously in fulfilling its primary objective of preserving, promoting and developing Sowa Ripga (Tibetan Medicine) further other than striving to contribute in lessening the world sufferings. Even though MTK has always realized the importance of initiating a research study and developing Tibetan Medicine further, her early phase of journey was restricted to preserving the very identity of Tibetan Medicine due to the dire situation and limited resources. MTK was able to stretch further by early 1980 owing to growth of staff and wider infrastructure. Research and Development (R & D) Department was first incepted in 1984 building the initial block of documentation and case studies.

The popularity of Tibetan Medicine grasped the amazing height around the world and so does the degree of skepticism about Tibetan Medicine in medical fraternity. As often stressed by His Holiness The Dalai  Lama , the need of doing a clinical study and initiating a collaboration work was felt strongly not only to evaluate  and authenticate this system but also to enable Tibetan Medicine to reach wider population giving them an opportunity to be benefited from it. Therefore, from 1987 the department had given prime importance in conducting Clinical studies on various diseases and so far done researches on hypertension, diabetes, hepatitis B, hypertension survey and also conducted studies on evaluation and safety of Tsothel in traditional Tibetan Medicine.

Public Health Intervention

Public Health Intervention is taken as one of the most important means of improving the health care system in the community by this department. Couple of projects that are on the floor:

  1. Diet Book: Diet is considered as one of the important tools in sustaining health as well as treating disease in Tibetan Medicine. This Book shed lights on the Structure & Habitat, Usage, Taste & Nature, Potency and Contraindication of every aspect of diet from the grains to vegetables. The first volume of this dietary book (Potency & Preparation of Vegetables) in both Tibetan and English language has been published by Men-Tsee- Khang in 2004 and 2006 respectively.
  1. Health Education: In order to reach masses, a special program of educating common people about the general health and diseases are initiated by using various media platforms like local newspaper, radio and television.