Pema Dorji ( dz, དྲུང་འཚོ་པདྨ་རྡོ་རྗེ; 1936-2009) was a Bhutanese doctor (''drungtsho'') of traditional Bhutanese and

Tibetan medicine Traditional Tibetan medicine (), also known as Sowa-Rigpa medicine, is a centuries-old traditional medical system that employs a complex approach to diagnosis, incorporating techniques such as pulse analysis and urinalysis, and utilizes behavior ...

, was the first person to institutionalize traditional medicine in

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...

. He was the founding director of the National Indigenous Medicine Hospital and of the

Institute of Indigenous Medicine The Institute of Indigenous Medicine (IIM) is an affiliated institute of the University of Colombo, specialising in Ayurveda and the Sri Lankan traditional medicine. Founded as the ''College of Indigenous Medicine'' in 1929, it became part of the ...

in the capital

Thimphu Thimphu (; dz, ཐིམ་ཕུག ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of Bhutan. It is situated in the western central part of Bhutan, and the surrounding valley is one of Bhutan's ''dzongkhags'', the Thimphu District. The ancient ...

, and the key person behind the establishment of the Health Department's indigenous clinics and dispensaries in all 20 districts of Bhutan which make available free treatment and medicine to all the citizens of Bhutan. Pema Dorji was born in Tashi Dingkha in the

Trongsa district Trongsa District (Dzongkha: ཀྲོང་གསར་རྫོང་ཁག་; Wylie transliteration: ''Krong-gsar rdzong-khag'') is one of the districts of Bhutan. It is the most central district of Bhutan and the geographic centre of Bhutan is ...

of Bhutan in a family of traditional physicians. He began his medical studies in Kurtoe, Lhuntsi District, east Bhutan under Drungtsho Chimi Gyeltshen, his grandmother's brother who was the personal physician of Ashi Om, the Queen of His Majesty Jigme Wangchuk. In 1946, Pema Dorji left Bhutan to train as a Drungtsho (physician-pharmacist) at the renowned Chagpori traditional medical college in

Lhasa Lhasa (; Lhasa dialect: ; bo, text=ལྷ་ས, translation=Place of Gods) is the urban center of the prefecture-level city, prefecture-level Lhasa (prefecture-level city), Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Regio ...

, Tibet. There he spent seven years studying with some of the greatest masters of the Sowa Rigpa ''(gso ba rig pa)'' medical tradition. Qualifying in 1953 he returned to Bhutan where he worked for nine years under his uncle, Neten Tsewang Gyeltshen in

Trongsa Dzong Trongsa Dzong is the largest dzong fortress in Bhutan, located in Trongsa (formerly Tongsa) in Trongsa district, in the centre of the country. Built on a spur overlooking the gorge of the Mangde River, a temple was first established at the location ...

. In 1968, Drungtsho Sherab Jorden and Drungtsho Pema Dorji established the first traditional clinic and dispensary to be set up under the government at Dechencholing, near Thimphu. In 1971 training of Menpas was started there in 1974 and in 1978 training of Drungtshos. In 1979, he established the new National Indigenous Medicine Hospital in Kawangjangsa, Thimphu which now forms part of the Institute of Traditional Medicine Services. On June 2, 1999, Drungtsho Pema Dorji was decorated with the Druk Thugsey Award by HM Jigme Singye Wangchuck the Fourth King of Bhutan for his service and bringing remarkable changes to the development of traditional medicine in Bhutan.

Sources

* ''Report on a Bhutanese Traditional Doctor, Dungtsho Peme Dorji''; in Tashi Delek ruk Air's In-Flight Magazine May–June 1998 issue.

References

External links

Institute of Traditional Medicine Services, Bhutan
1936 births 2009 deaths Bhutanese physicians Traditional medicine practitioners People from Trongsa District {{Bhutan-bio-stub