Tibetan doctor brings ancient healing to global stage

Borneo Post

16-07-2025

Mikyi (left) examines a patient at the University of Tibetan Medicine in Lhasa, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region on March 21, 2025. – Xinhua photo
LHASA (July 17): In the University of Tibetan Medicine in southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, Mikyi Tsomo, a regional inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage of Tibetan medicine, was treating a patient who had traveled more than 600 kilometers to seek her medical help.
'The old Tibetan doctors in our village used to be called 'Great Pandita' when I was a child,' Mikyi Tsomo recalled, using a term of high reverence for master healers in Tibetan culture.
The girl who followed local doctors around has now become a master healer herself in the eyes of her patients.
Tibetan medicine, known as Sowa Rigpa in Tibetan, with Sowa meaning 'nourishment' and Rigpa meaning 'knowledge system', is a unique medical tradition developed by the Tibetan people in the high-altitude environment.
It is one of China's important systems of traditional medicine.
Born in 1972 in Xainza County, Nagqu City, located in the heart of the Qiangtang Grasslands, Mikyi Tsomo grew up surrounded by the flourishing culture of Tibetan medicine.
Her name, 'Mikyi', means 'good medicine' in Tibetan.
At the age of five, she first witnessed the magic of traditional Tibetan medicine. A hunchbacked old doctor arrived from the valley, his bag filled with handmade herbal remedies.
'The old doctor simply touched my wrist and accurately identified my illness,' she recalled.
'I was fascinated – and a bit skeptical. Could just a touch really diagnose a disease?'
Driven by curiosity, Mikyi Tsomo began her journey in Tibetan medicine.
At 17, after graduating from a school specialising in Tibetan medicine, she was assigned to a local hospital perched at an altitude of 4,500 meters.
In these remote pastoral regions, visiting a patient often meant riding for an entire day.
Mikyi (right) instructs students at the University of Tibetan Medicine in Lhasa, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region on March 21, 2025. – Xinhua photo
Once, a herdsman from Xiaqu Township arrived breathless, saying: 'Doctor, my mother is seriously ill!'
Although Mikyi Tsomo had never ridden a horse before, she grabbed her medicine bag and mounted the horse without hesitation.
After eight hours of bumpy riding, she arrived with her legs so stiff she could barely walk. In a humble adobe house, the elderly woman lay gasping from a severe lung infection.
Thanks to Mikyi Tsomo's timely treatment, she made a full recovery.
'In the pastoral areas, illnesses can be very complex and unusual,' Mikyi Tsomo said, adding that at the time, she juggled the roles of practitioner and student – treating patients during the day and studying medical texts at night.
Since Xizang's peaceful liberation in 1951, Tibetan healthcare has undergone a dramatic transformation.
At that time, there were only three Tibetan medicine institutions across the entire region. Today, a comprehensive medical system has been established.
Life expectancy in Xizang has risen from 35.5 years in 1951 to 72.19 years in 2021.
After receiving her master's degree in 2004, she went abroad and earned a PhD in medical anthropology from Humboldt University of Berlin in 2010.
She later completed postdoctoral research at Oxford University and the Austrian Academy of Sciences.
During her time abroad, she brought Tibetan medicine to the global stage, but it was not received without skepticism.
'Many people only turn to us with a try-it-out mindset when Western medicine has no solutions,' she said.
While working in countries like Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, she treated many severe cases – including tumors, mental disorders, and chronic skin conditions.
In some cases, her patients were in an emotional or agitated state when seeking medical help. She would spend hours listening to them, explaining their conditions and treatment plans.
One such patient, a yoga teacher from Spain, was so severely affected by neurasthenia that she could barely sit.
Under Mikyi Tsomo's care, she made a remarkable recovery and began actively promoting Tibetan medicine in her community.
For Mikyi Tsomo, Tibetan medicine is not only a means of healing, but also a bridge of cultural exchange.
In 2018, thanks to her team's efforts, the practice of Lum Medicinal Bathing of Sowa Rigpa – knowledge and practices concerning life, health, and illness prevention and treatment, as passed down through generations in China's Tibetan regions – was successfully inscribed on Unesco's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Despite lucrative offers abroad, she chose to return to her roots for research in Tibetan medicine.
Mikyi poses for a photo at the University of Tibetan Medicine in Lhasa, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region on March 21, 2025. – Xinhua photo
In her lab at the University of Tibetan Medicine, Mikyi Tsomo has been lately focused on analysing clinical data on diabetes.
As the only university in China dedicated to Tibetan medicine, the University of Tibetan Medicine has trained more than 8,000 professionals since its founding in 1989.
In recent years, China has stepped up efforts to promote and preserve traditional medicine as part of its national healthcare strategy.
Tibetan medicine, along with other ethnic medical systems, has received increased policy support and academic attention.
'Even prescriptions written by our ancestors a thousand years ago remain legible today,' she said.
'Updated with new medical insights, they will continue to be passed down and carried further into the future.' – Xinhua China medical Mikyi Tsomo tibet Xinhua