Health – Tshering Tobgay

Royal Grandmother

July 22, 2012Health, Monarchy3 Comments

My last post was about Dr Aubrey Leatham, a leading pioneer in cardiology and the development of pacemakers. Dr Leatham, along with others, like Dr Albert Craig, had been invited to Bhutan by Her Majesty the Royal Grandmother, Ashi Kesang Choeden Wangchuck, to care for His Majesty the Third King. Between then and now, Her Majesty the Royal Grandmother has also spearheaded innumerable programs to care for the health of the people. They include, among many others, the introduction of, for the first time in Bhutan, drugs to fight leprosy and tuberculosis. What’s more, Her Majesty, now in her…

Do what’s right

March 12, 2012Health33 Comments

After more than a year of chronic drug shortages, the prime minister has asked the health minister for a report on the problem. I'm surprised. Hospitals throughout the country have been facing a serious shortage of drugs for more than a year. The problem has been widely reported and analyzed by the media. The opposition party questioned the government during the 7th session of the Parliament. And the National Council questioned the government during the 8th session. So I'd have thought that the prime minister would be well aware of the problem. I'd have thought that would have discussed…

Pound foolish, penny wise

March 7, 2012Health15 Comments

Being too cautious with small amounts of money now, could cost you a lot of money later. All of us are familiar with this universal truth. In fact, there's a well known idiom for it: penny wise, pound foolish. But what about the opposite? What if you spend a lot of money now, and end up having to count every penny later? That would be foolish, plain and simple. No idiom is needed, and none exists, to describe such fools. The government spend more than US$ 10 million to hire McKinsey. That works out to about Nu 500 million.…

Health on drugs

December 26, 2011Health12 Comments

The Health Ministry has admitted that they have a problem: they have not been able to maintain an adequate supply of drugs to our hospitals. As a result, patients have had to postpone or even forgo medication. And doctors have been forced to direct their patients to private pharmacies, which, many times, have also been frustratingly out of drugs. Worse still, the Health Ministry has admitted that they still do not know how to resolve the drug shortage issue, a problem that has reached chronic proportions during the past year. So they’ve announced that, as an interim measure, they…

Positive people

December 2, 2011Health16 Comments

Wangda Dorji made history yesterday morning. He revealed that he is HIV positive. And by doing so, he became the first Bhutanese person to publically disclose that he is inflicted with HIV. He made his announcement and shared his painful story with the guests who had gathered to commemorate World AIDS Day. Later, in the evening, four more people joined Wangda Dorji. Tandin Wangchuk, Pema Dorji, Sithal Chhetri and Tshering Choden, Wangda’s wife, also revealed that they have HIV. They, along with Wangda, who is the executive director of “Lhaksam”, a nonprofit support group for HIV patients, shared their…

Legalize abortions

August 8, 2011Health31 Comments

Last month I posted a poll asking if abortion should be legalized in our country. Thank you for participating in the poll. And thank you for your views, both for and against legalizing abortion. 55% of you said yes, abortion should be legalized. 38% of you said no, abortion should not be legalized. And 7% of you said, “I don’t know”. I don’t know. That, apparently, is the government’s position too – they don’t seem to know. When asked about abortions, the prime minister reportedly accepted that our laws are “causing certain problems and deaths to mothers.” He added…

Our drinking problem

August 5, 2011Health17 Comments

We have a drinking problem. We reportedly consume 7.5 liters of alcohol per person per year. Much of that is served in the more than 3,000 licensed bars that we have. That works out to one bar for every 250 people. And that does not take into consideration the large-scale production, sale and consumption of home brewed alcohol throughout our country. That’s why alcohol abuse is a leading cause of non-communicable diseases. That’s why alcohol-related diseases make up a whopping 27% of all hospital inpatients. That’s why they account for a staggering 58% of all inpatient mortality. That's why…

Thimphu’s lifestyle

July 25, 2011Health2 Comments

In 2007 the Ministry of Health conducted a survey in Thimphu to assess the state of non-communicable diseases in the capital. The results showed that we live dangerously. For example: One out of every five adults consumed tobacco – they either smoked or used smokeless tobacco. One third of the adult population consumed alcohol regularly. One third of them were associated with hazardous drinking and binging. Most adults did not exercise to meet minimum health requirement. More than three-fourths of adults did not get any exercise at all during their free time. Two thirds of the adult population did…

An inconvenient truth

July 15, 2011Health39 Comments

Last week, on the 8th of July, Bhutan Today reported that the Phuentsholing hospital received four post abortion complication cases in just one month. All the abortions had been performed across the border, in Jaigon. All four cases were life-threatening. This week, on the 14th of July, Kuensel reported that a young woman died in Phuentsholing hospital from post abortion complications. The abortion had been performed on the 11th of July, in Jaigon, just three days after the Bhutan Today article. Many of our women have lost their lives attempting abortions. Many, many more have suffered life-threatening complications caused…

Our health is in our hands

October 15, 2010Health

It’s the tourist season. And at mealtimes, tourists across our country – in restaurants and in dining tents – will regard, with some amusement, their guides roll and set aside small balls of rice. “Bhutanese way of washing hand!” our guides will declare referring to their pre-meal rituals. Some of the tourists will, as always, give it a try, and end up, as always, with streaks of black starch on their hands. The other tourists will laugh. And the guides will attempt to explain how we, Bhutanese, “dry clean” our hands. This traditional way of “washing” our hands may…

Suicide case

June 29, 2010Health

During question hour today, I asked the minister for works and human settlement if and when wages for the National Workforce would be increased. This issue has already received considerable attention in the National Assembly. Still, I went ahead, hoping to push the government to raise the wages of our workers. It didn’t work. And during question hour today, I wanted to ask a second question, this one on an issue that we have not talked about at all in the National Assembly. I’d wanted point out the growing number of suicide cases in the country. And ask the…

Why I’ve been lazy

June 26, 2010Health

Three reasons why I’ve been less than diligent with my posts recently: The National Assembly is in session; The World Cup is on; and My cough persists. It refuses to go away, and has kept me, and my family, awake for many frustrating nights. But, countless home remedies and two ill-advised rounds of antibiotics later, good sense eventually prevailed – I consulted a physician. The specialist ordered a sputum culture, identified the offending bacteria, prescribed the right antibiotic, and, just like that, I’m already feeling better.

War against malnutrition

April 7, 2010Health

Today is World Health Day. It is a good time to reflect on the health of our people. And to remind ourselves that we still need to wage a war against malnutrition. So I’m reproducing what we discussed last November on this serious problem: Six weeks ago, the Annual Health Bulletin announced that 37% of our children are stunting, that 4.6% of them are wasting, and that 11.1% are underweight. This week, we learnt that the Right to Food Assessment Study concluded that 26.6% of our households are undernourished. That would also roughly mean that about a quarter of…

Visiting Linda

December 22, 2009Health

My previous entry about Paro Airport's security, prompted Linda Wangmo, a regular contributor, to cry out for help about a situation at our hospital. Listen to her! Security security…….. Lucky our OL and other big shots do not have to spend a night in our hospital… The ward reminds me of a prison in one of the movies.. The G4s armies. They dont even let me share a simple meal with my ailing mom….

Active Thimphu

December 20, 2009Health

Gyamtsho and I went biking today. We started from our home in Taba and rode through Dechenchholing, Samteling, Zilukha and the Royal Boulevard to the Clocktower Square where we had lunch at the Musk. From there, we cycled uphill: to the Memorial Chorten, then, via the Ring Road (above the hospital), to the Buddha Statue in Kuenselphodrang. We then rode back home: downhill towards the Memorial Chorten, along the Royal Boulevard, below the golf course, and on Dechen Lam to Taba. I’m happy that I got some exercise. And, that I got to spend some time with my son…