Part 4 in a series of live blogs from Bhutan by Meg Jordan, Professor and Chair of the Integrative Health Studies Department
Time to dive into my mission here: ethnographic study of
Bhutan's health system, its translation of Gross National Happiness principles
into health outcomes, and an exploration of how well medical pluralism thrives.
First stop: traditional Asian medicine physician, Dr. Mindu
Gorji, where I had my pulses read and my tongue analyzed. I did, however, skip
out on the blood letting and swallowing of some rather questionable looking
precious gem herbs rolled in dirt from a high-arsenic soil territory.
I met with the Director of Public Health, Health Ministry—his
dedication to equity, access, and quality was admirable. His responsibilities cover
administration of a multilayered distribution of health programs from the
National Hospital through grassroots Community Health Workers. Then I visited
their national hospital and was amazed at the amount of work done with limited
resources.
I also spent time with native healers both inside the formal
Institute of Traditional Medicine and outside the system. Medical pluralism is
alive and well here, and a means of referral back and forth between native
healing and allopathic medicine manages to succeed, surprisingly, in the rural
areas better than in the larger cities.
Tonight is my last night in Bhutan. I'll fondly hold the
land of the thunder dragons in my heart forever. I'll miss the countryside most
with the towering rhododendron and magnolia trees, yak herds, and terraced rice
fields, and the easy smiles of these warm and gracious people.
I can't wait to take you back here with Alumni Director Richard
Buggs. Save your Nu.
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