Traditional Tibetan medicine has reached a new stage of development after 40 years of research. More than 600 Chinese and foreign experts on Tibetan medicine gathered on July 16 in this capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region, to attend the ongoing 2000 International Symposium on Tibetan Medicine.
　　"The three-day symposium will put Tibetan medicine in the spotlight of global medical circles. The convention of such a large symposium in Tibet reflects the marked progress of Tibetan medicine over the past 40 years, since the peaceful liberation of Tibet in 1951," said a symposium organizer.
　　Tibetan medicine experienced its heyday in the eighth century. But by 1959, when democratic reforms took place, there were only three Tibetan clinics in Tibet, with less than 100 medical workers, who served mainly the aristocracy and lamas.
　　In the past four decades, the central government of China has allocated 800 million yuan to build Tibetan hospitals in seven cities and prefectures in Tibet. The Hospital of Tibetan Medicine, the first regional medical institute of higher learning, was set up in 1993. Apart from 3,000 Tibetan doctors in rural areas, the number of professional physicians in Tibetan medicine has grown to over 1,000.
　　In addition, Tibetan hospitals have been set up in communities inhabited by Tibetans in Qinghai and Sichuan provinces. Nearly 100 books on Tibetan medicine, including the "Diagnosis of Tibetan Medicine", have been published. The "Hanging Charts of the Four Medical Tantras" have been translated into three other languages.
　　 Pharmaceuticals plants in Tibet and Qinghai are producing Tibetan medicine with modern techniques to make the traditional drug easy to take and adapt to the demands of the world market. Zhan Dui, president of the Tibetan Hospital, expressed the wish that Tibetan medicine will make bigger contributions to promoting the health of people around the globe.

(From People's daily)