Women doctors defy male dominance in Tibetan medicines

Tibetan women, considered unsuitable to study and practice medicine for more than 3,000 years, are now playing an equal role to men in Tibetan medicine.

Lhaphun, a gynecologist with the Tibetan Hospital in Lhasa, said she was astonished to be admitted to the Tibet College of Tibetan Medicine (TCTM) 26 years ago as she was sure she would have to study Western medicine.

"In my mind, scripture halls were where Tibetan doctors are taught," recalled the 45-year-old doctor.

Modern education brings women doctors

For thousands of years, knowledge and treatment of Tibetan medicine had been passed down in monasteries and the best doctors were often monks. Women rarely had the chance to learn medicine, and their roles were restricted to household chores and raising children.

In 1963, fifteen Tibetan women entered Lhasa's Men-Tsee-Khang -- a traditional Tibetan hospital founded in 1916 -- to begin formal medical study.

Women now make up half of the 800 physicians at the Tibetan Hospital in Lhasa. Of new students enrolled by the nearby Tibet College of Tibetan Medicine each year, almost a half are female.

Recalling her college life, Lhaphun said unlike traditional Dratsang (monastery schools) where lessons were given in dimly lit scripture halls, their classrooms were in modern buildings.

The routine monastic practice of chanting mantras was skipped, but classical works by ancient medical masters were memorized to obtain the basic theories and knowledge of Tibetan medicine.

Lhaphun and her classmates familiarized themselves with herbalism, grasping diagnosis and various therapies. In summer, they followed their instructors to learn about herbs in the mountains.

The most impressive course for Lhaphun was ethics. Thirty-one sections of Volume II of the Four Medical Tantras, an encyclopedia of Tibetan medicine dating back to the eighth century, are devoted to medical ethics.

"The best doctors should take all patients as their children and treat them equally. That makes the job noble," said Lhaphun.