Return to AyurVijnana Contents
By Egbert Asshauer
The practice of Tibetan medicine in Germany and Switzerland is bound by strict laws. These might be overcome through the direct intervention and co-operation of the Men-Tsee-Khang [the former Tibetan Medical Institute (TMI)] in Dharamsala. However, at the Men-Tsee-Khang the problem is either not noticed, or simply ignored.
The legal regulations in Germany and Switzerland are as follows.
1. Only qualified naturopaths (‘Heilpraktiker’) and physicians are allowed to practise medicine (allopathy or any other alternative healing arts). Exceptions for foreign practitioners may be made if there is both a need and if the applicant has a qualification comparable to our (German/Swiss) education which is also recognised in that person’s country of origin.
2. Tibetan drugs are not allowed to be imported other than through international pharmacies.
3. Tibetan drugs are not allowed to be sold by the practitioners themselves, but only through a pharmacy. The diagnosis and treatment of patients in Germany and Switzerland by Tibetan private doctors and doctors of the Men-Tsee-Khang are thus not protected by the law. Physicians and naturopaths who support such practice are in danger of losing their license.
All groups and organisations attempting to change this state of affairs agree that Tibetan medicine should be preserved as a part of the cultural heritage of Tibet and should be made available to the West. Aside from this, they pursue very different interests. These interest groups can be described in the following way.
1. Professors and physicians who are interested in proving the efficacy
of Tibetan medicine through adequate clinical studies.
This group must submit to the authority of the Ethics Commission.
This creates problems, as well as leaves open the question of who will
pay for such research studies. A proposed clinical study at the University
of Munich has so far failed in the initial stages because the Men-Tsee-Khang
did not give out the recipes of the respective pills.
2. Pharmaceutical companies and traders like PADMA AG, Switzerland,
and others who produce and/or sell Tibetan herbal pills.
The preparation PADMA 28 has a special position because it is currently
prescribed following Western diagnostic methods and not Tibetan pulse reading.
3. Organisations like the Chakpori Verein fuer Tibetische Heilkunde e.V. (Chakpori Society for Tibetan Healing Arts) whose main aim is to support and preserve the Chakpori tradition in exile and promote research on the practice of Tibetan medicine in the West. Institutes like the Kailash Institute in Freiburg who are interested in opening a Tibetan clinic similar to NSTG in Amsterdam (where laws are completely different) and Buddhist Societies, like DANA e.V. in Munich, would like to offer patient consultations with a visiting Tibetan doctor who would come several times a year.
DANA e.V., directed by Mrs. Inka Jochum, has so far offered consultations with Tibetan doctors of the Men-Tsee-Khang several times a year. By now, in Munich, Jochum has initiated within DANA e.V. the establishment of an Institute for Tibetan Medicine. The intention in the future is to affiliate this institute with the University of Munich. The centre’s main aims are the scientific investigation of Tibetan medicine, the translation of texts and, finally, the offering of medical treatment, if the legal prerequisites can be established. The institute intends to collaborate closely with the Men-Tsee-Khang, Dharamsala.
4. Groups which offer an education in Tibetan medicine to Western
doctors.
An ‘Introduction to Tibetan Medicine,’ followed by a ‘Basic Education
in Tibetan Medicine,’ is being offered in the form of practical seminars
by the German Association of Doctors for Acupuncture in Bad Homburg, Germany,
in collaboration with the New Yuthok Institute for Tibetan Medicine in
Mailand, Italy (Director: Dr. Pasang Yontan Arya). The course comprises
200 lessons in 26 seminars. The fees are DM 380 per seminar. The success
of this project remains to be seen. Most experts share the view that one
of the two prerequisites to mastering Tibetan medicine is mastering the
Tibetan language. The other prerequisite is mastering the art of pulse
diagnosis.
A similar project, also directed by Dr. Pasang Yontan Arya, is now in its second year in Bad Ragaz in Switzerland. It is also open to lay people. Only basic information on pulse diagnosis is taught here.
The actual aim is to preserve Tibetan medicine as a whole and lead
the tradition into general acceptance in the West. This, I feel, is only
possible through efforts such as the Munich project. This project could
combine an out patient clinic similar to the NSTG - which operates under
completely different legal assumptions - with the badly needed research
only a big university hospital is able to offer. There will be many obstacles
that have to be overcome, in the legal field as well as in the cooperation
with the Tibetan side.
I do not believe that we should offer a rudimentary education
in Tibetan medicine to physicians, naturopaths and lay practitioners; this
results in the instrumentalisation of Tibetan medicine and the loss of
its wholeness. Superficial forms of education, however, are unlikely to
be stopped. Traditional Chinese Medicine went the same way in the West
(through affiliations with universities). So did Ayurvedic medicine, and
- honstly, one has to admit - to the advantage of many patients.
The Munich project could be a Western Men-Tsee-Khang according to
Western scientific standards - a vision worthwhile working for.
Dr. Egbert Asshauer
Andreas-Schlueter-Weg 12,
25 451 Quickborn, Germany
Phone: (0049)-4106-71146, Fax: (0049)-4106-769872, E-mail: dr.asshauer at snafu.de