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Aleena Madni

Medicine, Healing and Religion

Ivette Vargas

5-2-13

Globalization of Tibetan Medicine

In the article Buddhism, science, and market: the globalization of Tibetan medicine, by

Craig R. Janes, talks about how Tibetan medicine has made its impact in western medicine.

Its a different alternative when Europeans or Americans arent getting the results theywant from biomedicine or they want to try something new. Biomedicine usually works best

when the patients illness is quick to treat or the side effects of the medicine arent too

hazardous. Changes in China had in impact on social services in China effecting Tibetan

medicine causing it to have an upper hand to biomedicine because it its low-cost and its

efficient. Janes also talks about the patients perspective when going to a Tibetan clinic andhow the spiritual/moral parts of the medicine come into play.

Three major reforms in China took place that had an impact on Tibetan medicine.

First, was a direct state funding of health care declined rapidly leading private companiesto form to take charge of healthcare (271). Second, decisions over health policy were

largely decentralized which led to more local companies organizing and providing healthcare. Lastly, the government relaxed regulations over medical entrepreneurship that led to

rapid development of a robust medical pluralism in towns and cities throughout the

region. These reforms impacted the public part of Tibetan medicine, by opening up more

private shops. Tibetan medicine started making for-profit hospitals instead of non-profit

making it difficult for famers or people living in rural areas to get treatment but it was still

cheaper than biomedicine. It was also difficult for rural area patients to come to the city to

come get treatment but since Tibetan medicine is based on cultural practices its easy to

send a trained professional to these areas so they can get treatment. The medicine is

produced locally through the applications of indigenous knowledge and is unique to eachindividual so the pressure to reduce healing to its material product makes it difficult to

produce so globalization is hard (271).

In biomedicine when a patient is diagnosed with a chronic illness like

cardiovascular disease, its difficult for patients to undergo treatment because it seemsineffective. Patients turn to Tibetan medicine because its a holistic alternative that has

results and is also cheaper compared to the prescription pills a patient needs to buy. The

patients perspective when they came into clinic was filled with humoral jargon (278).When the patient comes in they are usually waiting for a famous doctor to come give their

examination. Before the doctor conducts the examination, he reads the record book that

has all of the patients information, and then takes the patients pulse, but very quickly. The

examination usually last between a minute or two, which is very fast. The reason why they

come to a Tibetan doctor is because they believe their symptoms to be the result of theactions of spirits or the consequences of defilement, pollution, or desecration. The doctorrelates their symptoms to humoral terms, which they may not understand, and give them

the appropriate treatment. If the patient can afford health cares, which are patients usually

in the urban areas, and their illness is severe they can chose to go to the hospital, where

they mix Tibetan and biomedical treatments together. At the hospital they get more

diagnostic treatments that are longer and more in depth. The Tibetan medicine acts

slowly but is thought to root out the disease so hospitalization can last for a very long

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time with the average for three months. The reason why patients chose Tibetan medicine

over biomedicine practices is because biomedicine in China, and particularly in Tibet, isoriented to providing care for acute, mostly infectious conditions not for chronic illnesses

(280). Also since there may be a language barrier the biomedicine doctor may come off as

rude because he or she may not know the cultural ways.

When Tibetan medicine comes to the West, Janes talks about how the westernimagination of Tibetan medicine can be seen to instantiate links between spirituality and

physical health in an epidemiological context where chronic and degenerative diseases(284). So where biomedicine fails at, people will look for treatment elsewhere like Tibetan

medicine that does provide treatment in chronic or degenerative diseases. Tibetan doctors

will make westerners more comfortable by providing a similar environment to home by

wearing white coats and putting incense in the examination room. The reason why only

certain parts of Tibetan medicine have become globalized in North America is because

Americans do not necessarily adopt healing traditions as whole packages ofbeliefs and

practices but they chose only certain parts that help their illness (283). This creates

diverse range of alternatives for treatment.

References:

Janes, Craig R. "Buddhism, Science, and Market: The Globalisation of Tibetan Medicine."

Anthropology & Medicine 9.3 (2002): 267-89. Web.