The Department of Health organized two days Meeting at Chonor House and Tibetan Medical and Astro Institute (TMAI), Dharamsala to amend new policy on integration of Traditional and Allopathic medical approach on 13-14 Feb. 2008. Hon. Health Kalon presided the meeting with the Secretary and Joint Secretary of the Department. The Directors and Doctors from the Delek and TMAI, Doctors of the Department run hospitals and a member of the Central Council of Tibetan Medicine took part in the meeting.

Meeting heated up with the wide range of discussion on various means to amend an ideal integration policy and finally concluded with the formulation of two committee, one is Advisory Committee comprising of Dr. Tsetan Dorjee-CMO of Delek Hospital, Mr. Dawa Phunkyi-Director of Delek Hospital, Dr. Namgyal of TMAI, Dr. Thokmey of Central Council of Tibetan Medicine and Dr. Passang of DTR Hospital Mundgod, and other is Executive Committee comprising of 1 member each from the Department of Health, Central Council of Tibetan Medicine, 2 members from TMAI and 3 members from allopathic Tibetan Hospitals. It was decided during the meeting that the former amends the policy whereas later shall implement the amended policy. Meeting was successfully concluded with the hope to render maximum medical services to the human sufferings.

Human beings especially their children are more prone to infectious diseases and therefore to create awareness on general health and hygiene, Dondenling Van Thiel Hospital organized health talk highlighting various infectious agents to the parents of nursery kids on January 21, 2008. The resource person for the talk was Ms. Ranchung Dolma, staff nurse of the hospital who talked on the various means through which one gets infected and therefore she gave detailed information to the participants on different methods to avoid these infectious agents. For instance, she talked on the importance of washing their hands before eating anything, keeping their surrounding clean and so on. There were 98 participants with 31 male and 67 female who attended the talk.

On the next day the same resource person spoke on Mother and Child Health Care to the parents and child bearing age of the settlement. 207 participants gathered during the talk and found the talk very beneficial.

On January 28, 2008 Executive Secretary Mr. Lhakpa Tsering gave educational health talk to the students of class VI and above on HIV/AIDS at Central School for Tibetan, Kollegal. There were 314 participants with 189 male and 125 female who found the talk very informative.

Vitamin ‘A’ is essential for the proper formation of cells, mucous membranes and to avoid night vision impairement of the children, therefore Dondenling Van Thiel Hospital and local government hospital jointly conducted Vitamin ‘A’ syrup dosage program on January 1, 2008. The program benefited 144 under five children. The Executive Secretary Mr. Lhakpa Tsering extended heartfelt thanks to Dr. Venu Gopal of Government Hospital for providing Vitamin ‘A’ syrup free of cost and making this program successful.

On 27 Feb 2008, under the funding of United States Humanitarian Assistance (USHA) via the Department of Health CTA, Executive Secretary of Bir Primary Health Centre provided first dose of Hepatitis ‘A’ vaccination to 60 under five children. The second dose of the vaccination is scheduled to provide in the month of August 2008. However, there are certain number of under five children who didn’t receive the vaccination during this camp but concern office plan to cover them in the coming month of July 2008.

Under the direction of the Department of Health, Training on integrated health data and tuberculosis data surveillance system was organized at Tashiling Tibetan settlement in Pokhara, Nepal and kalchakra podang in salugara, West Bengal from March 3-7 and 12-16, 2008 respectively. Dr. Tsering Wangchuk, Medical Officer of Menlha hospital, Orissa was the resource person during the training and it is a part of series of trainings organized by health data and tuberculosis section of the Department ever since the new integrated health data surveillance system was launched.

More than twenty health workers in Nepal and Northeast India attended the training and Mr. Migmar Tashi, dealing staff of Tuberculosis program of the Department and Ms. Tashi Yangzom, desk officer of data collection presented an overview of the program and underlined the importance of systematic data recording and reporting. The former also gave detailed guidelines on TB data reporting and recording system to the participants. During the training participants shared their experiences and appreciated the new format of data collection

On January 22, 2008 Executive Secretary of Norgyeling Health Centre invited Dr. Yogesh Gategar from the local Government Hospital to give talk on Mother and Child Health care to the settlement people. Dr. Gategar highlighted the importance of antenatal to postnatal care during pregnancy and also gave detailed information on other important relevent topics.

Under the gracious funding from Dr. Nobert Moos, Germany via Hunsur settlement office, Phende hospital organized an awareness talk on Diabetes and also provided free diabetes check-up to those above 40 and suffering from obesity, blood pressure and cardiac problems.

For the convenience of the public, hospital staff started camp-to-camp Diabetic check up and on the final day 400 people turned up for the examination out of which 5 people were new diabetic patient. Since the medicine to control diabetes is expensive, hospital provided 50% concession on medical expenses of 26 patients for one year, which relieved and benefited the patients very much. All thanks to Dr. Nobert Moos!

In order to provide as many health talk as possible and to examine the heart disease of the settlers, it has also provided Multi ECG Machine, generator and public address system to the hospital through settlement office. Executive Secretary extended heartfelt gratitude to the settlement office and especially to Dr. Nobert Moos for his generous support to the hospital.

The Department of Health through this issue extends heartfelt thanks to Dr. Nobert Moos for the contribution.

Mundgod, Doeguling Tibetan Resettlement Hospital organized an awareness talk on Mental Health through the resource person Ms. Tsekyi Lhamo to the students of class VI to XI of Central School for Tibetans on February 27, 2008. There were 472 students who took part in the talk out of which 202 were male and 270 female. At the end of the talk feedback were collected where 86% participants mentioned the talk was very informative.

Same talk was organized on March 7, 2008 to the students of class I to VIII of Central School for Tibetans Mundgod, Camp No. 6. There were 110 male and 77 female students who took part in the talk.

On 24th March 2008 Dondenling Van Thiel Hospital Kollegal observed World Tuberculosis Day with the hope to control and eradicate tuberculosis in the area. The program began with the opening speech of Dr. Tenzin Phende where he addressed the signs, symptoms and treatment of Tuberculosis.

Hospital distributed free soap, toothpaste and toothbrush under the funding of Dhondenling Family Welfare Project and also distributed TB pamphlets in both English and Tibetan version published by Department of Health to attract their attention and to heighten the health status of the community. There were 369 participants who attended the program and on the whole people observed the day gracefully.

Ms. Kalsang Lhamo, Under Secretary of the Department of Health visited Mundgod Tibetan settlement during the visit of His Holiness the Dalai Lama at the settlement to facilitate health education campaign to the gathered mass. Although she was guided to organize an open medical camp in coordination with Doeguling Tibetan Resettlement Hospital, but due to the already heavy presence of the medical facilities from Indian government and some other NGOs, such as group of Taiwan doctors headed by Loseling Monastery and visiting doctors from district hospital, who provides free medication during the teaching. Ms. Kalsang Lhamo and DTR hospital staff organized health education campaign from Jan 2-16, 2008 instead of organising medical camp.

The team put up small tent containing huge collection of pamphlets on various diseases like HIV/AIDS, HepB, Cold, flu, etc, which were freely distributed to the masses to sensitize and make them more aware on the importance of keeping clean environment, causes and preventive measure of various diseases. They also distributed masks to the newly arrived people from Tibet and Himalayan regions of Ladakh, Bhutan and Spiti to avoid breathing dust. Team called ambulance from Tsojhe Hospital on top of the DTRH ambulance to facilitate patients with the easy conveyance and offered doctor services during the whole teaching.

Health Secretary Mr. Pema Damdul Arya accompanied by the project officer Ms. Tenzin Tseten visited Tibetan Settlements around Northeast region namely Tezu, Miao, Bomdilla, Tenzingang, Darjeeling, Chagpori Tibetan Medical Institute, Sonada, Kalimpong, Gangtok and Ravangla from 7th January to 5th Feb 2008.

During his tour he delivered 12 different health talks to general public and schools of the respective settlements. His talks mainly focused preventive measures, including importance of integration of Tibetan traditional and allopathic medicines.

He inspected all the branch health centres and examined the utilization of facilities available. He also invited views and thoughts from the branch health staff through face-to-face meeting to understand health-related problems and ways to improve hygiene of the settlers. He asked health workers to organize frequent health awareness talks to the settlers and reviewed all health-related programs like TB control, Reproductive Health, Mother & Child Health Care etc.

During his tour many health staff approached with both social and personal problems that were carefully attended and wherever possible were solved instantly and those needed further discussion were noted. He also met with the Local Health Committee of the respective settlements and discussed various health related issues and solutions.

Mr. Secretary took the opportunity to do midterm evaluation of ongoing water and sanitation projects sponsored by the Big Lottery Fund via Tibet House Trust, England at Miao, Tezu and Ravangla. He met with expert from Space Geo Tech at Miao who has been hired on contract for technical assessment of the Miao Drinking water project.

Under the direction of Health Kalon, one of the major purposes of this tour was to verify and assess the Chagpori Tibetan Medical Institute, which was successfully concluded with separate report submitted to concerned authorities.

On his way back in New Delhi, Mr. Secretary met with the medical students who are presently studying in various medical institutes in New Delhi. And advise them on the importance of self-responsibilities to commit themselves to the services of exile community after graduation. It was then followed by question-answer session and on the whole the tour was successfully concluded with the warm welcome by the cool breeze of Dharamsala on Feb. 5, 2008

Warm and simple farewell tea party was hosted to the outgoing Health Secretary Mr. Pema Damdul Arya by the Department of Health at Gangkyi staff mess. The ceremony began with the offering of traditional scarves by Mr. Topgyal Tsering, Acting Health Secretary of the Department followed by other staff. Mr. Topgyal Tsering in his opening speech extended heartfelt gratitude to Mr. Arya for his life long services and appreciated his vigor and dedication to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and CTA, particularly to the Department of Health. Mr. Topgyal Tsering also wished him best and successful life ahead. Mr. Pema D Arya also offered scarf to the acting Health Secretary and extended appreciation to all the staff for their dedication, sincerity and above all for the cooperation. He said, achievement of the Department of Health till date was not possible without united effort from every individual staff. He also advised them to continue with the same spirit in future and further suggested the importance of having emotional attachment with ones duty to achieve fruitful results and attain job satisfaction.

Mr. Arya recommended the need of technical staff and more importance to be laid on preventive measures on high-flying diseases such as Tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, Hep. B and Mental Health. His final words expressed his strong desire to continue his service to the Tibetan Community but due to his personal family difficulties he was pushed to appeal Kashag for advance retirement. Therefore considering his justified appeal, Kashag has granted his retirement from March 20, 2008. However before his final exit from the 25 years service in CTA, he waved emotionally charged good-bye with boon of advice to the young staff of Health Department and wished Tashi Delek to all.

14, March 2008 Dhondenling Ven Thiel Hospital, Kollegal organized an awareness talk on HIV/AIDS to the people of Village I, K and Q. The resource person for the talk was Ms. Rangchung Dolma staff nurse, Mr. Lhakpa Tsering Executive Secretary and Dr. Tenzin Phende Medical Officer of the hospital. The talk was primarily aimed at youngsters and around 325 participants with 141 male and 184 female participated at the talk and most of the participants found it very informative.

Morbility India, NGO in Bangalore organized the 8th international community based rehabilitation training in Bangalore from Nov. 12-17, 2008. Under the direction of the CTA Health Department, Executive Secretary of DTR hospital Mundgod, Mr. Pempa Labrang, Mr Sonam Yougyal-Executive secretary of Menlha Hospital Orrisa and Mr. Lhakpa Tsering-Executive Secretary of DVTH Kollegal attended the training. The objective of the training was to re-educate middle and senior level professionals from the government, NGOs and individuals who are interested in dealing/handling disabled people.

Training spotlighted the topics such as necessary knowledge, basic skills to initiate, monitoring and developing the ways to strengthen the CBR program. It also included and emphasized on the use of participatory learning-approaches, fieldwork, lecture, group discussions, case studies and work analysis on essential components in understanding the need of disabled person.

Training was attended by participants from various part of the India viz. Gujurat, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and some were even from United States and Brazil. And the Department of Health is glad to be able to play its small role in the training through its participants and hope to render more efficient services to the disabled people in Tibetan community.

Like every year this year also the Department of Health organized workshop on “Basic education of women’s health” at Tibetan Transit School from 13-28 March 2008. 30 female students attended the workshop where Dr. Tsering Dhondup, Dr. Yangzom, Dr. Passang Dolma, Ms Tsering Paldon from Delek Hospital and Dr. Dawa Dolma from Tibetan Medical and Astro Institute were the resource person. The main objective of the workshop is to create awareness on day-to-day health care in relation to the personal and community hygiene, preventive and curative ante/postnatal health care. At the end of the workshop feedback was collected where the participants indicated that it was very informative and requested for more of such workshops in the near future. The success of the workshop is heightened by the integration of both Traditional and allopathic medical approach.

Phende Hospital organized an awareness talk on Tuberculosis to the students of Central School for Tibetan, Hunsur. The resource person for the talk was Mr. Tenzin Chakdor and Ms. Kalsang Choedon who spoke on signs, symptoms and treatment of the disease. There were 320 students with 147 male and 173 female ranging from the age group of 7 to 16 years who participated in the talk. The feedback forms collected after the talk reads, 93% of the participants found it very informative and the school principal requested for such talks to be organized once in a month to update students’ knowledge and to build a healthy community

From 25-28 Feb. 2008, Hunsur Phende Hospital organized an awareness talk on diabetes where resource person Dr. Thupten Gyaltsen gave detailed information on signs, symptoms and treatment of diabetes to the general public. The talk covered 220 participants with 95 male and 125 female ranging from the age group of 18 to 65 years old. At the end of the talk feedback forms were collected where 95% of participants indicated that the talk was very informative

(The Basics to Practice Every Day)
1. Move More
Make it a daily challenge to find ways to move your body. Climb stairs if given a choice between that and escalators or elevators.

2. Cut Fat
Avoid the obvious such as fried foods, burgers and other fatty meats (i.e. pork, bacon, ham, salami, ribs and sausage). Dairy products such as cheese, cottage cheese, milk and cream should be eaten in low fat versions.

3. Quit Smoking 
Beware, warn your children of the false romance or ‘tough guy’ stance of Hollywood smokers. Thought for the day: Give up just one cigarette…. the next one.

4. Reduce Stress 
Think positive; spend 30 minutes a day doing something you like. (i.e., Soak in a hot tub; walk, read a good book; visit a friend; play with your dog; listen to soothing music; watch a funny movie. Avoid difficult people when possible.

5. Protect Yourself from Pollution 
If you can’t live in a smog-free environment, at least avoid smoke-filled rooms, high traffic areas, breathing in highway fumes and exercising near busy thoroughfares

6. Wear Your Seat Belt
Statistics show that seat belts add to longevity and help alleviate potential injuries in car crashes.

7. Floss Your Teeth
Recent studies make a direct connection between longevity and teeth flossing. Nobody knows exactly why. Perhaps it’s because people who floss tend to be more health conscious than people who don’t?

8. Avoid Excessive Drinking 
Excessive drinking can cause health problems such as liver and kidney disease and cancer.

9. Keep a Positive Mental Outlook 
There’s a definitive connection between living well, healthy and having a cheerful outlook on life. Thought for the day: You can’t be unhappy when you’re smiling or singing. Thought for the day:

Follow these basic tips for healthy living and you can better control your own destiny.

Health Secretary Mr. Pema Damdul Arya retired on 20th March 2008

Mr. Tsering Dhondup, Medical Officer of Tso- Jhe Hospital resigned on 20th Feb. 2008

Mr. Tenzin Thokmey Accountant of Ladakh Primary Health Centre resigned on 14th Feb. 2008

Mr. Mohammad Ali Clinic Health Worker of Srinagar retired on 1st Jan. 2008

Ms. Phurbu Lhamo Clinic Health worker of Manali health centre resigned on 1st Feb. 2008

Mr. Thupten Gyaltsen Medical Officer of Phende Hospital resigned on 31st March 2008

Ms. Lobsang Dolker Nurse Aid of Bandhara Hospital retired on 9th Feb. 2008