Medicare Situation Before 1951

　　According to historical records, man residing in the Tibet Plateau learned to kill pains and treat diseases with parts of animals, plants and minerals long before the advent of the century. For example, they used butter to stop bleeding and distiller's barley to treat injury. They gained experience in this regard, and drew nourishment from Chinese and Indian medicines. Gradually, they developed their own way of medical treatment. Throughout the ages, Tibetan medical masters have created voluminous works, contributing greatly to the Tibetan race and the Tibetan culture.

　　In modern times, however, Tibet marked pace in medical development. In the first half of 1900s, some foreigners and the Tibet office of the KMT Government started some Western medical hospitals and clinics in Tibetan cities and towns. The broad masses of Tibetan herders and peasants had no access to hospitals. Traditional Tibetan medicine was available only in the few private clinics and the three extremely simply furnished official medical institutions: Lizong Tibetan Medicine Institute and Moinzekang, located in the Yaowangshan Mountain in Lhasa, and Gyigyinagar of the Tashilbunpo Monastery in Xigaze. They employed close to 100 medical workers. Plus medical practitioners found among folks, there were some 400 medical workers in Tibet, averaging four per 10,000 Tibetans. What's more, they served those in the ruling class in the main. As a result, the broad masses of serfs and slaves were exposed to such spreading diseases as smallpox, the plague and some other acute and epidemic diseases. In the 150 years prior to the peaceful liberation of Tibet in 1951, Tibet was hit by smallpox four times. During the smallpox attack in 1925, more than 7,000 people died in Lhasa alone. Lhasa also suffered from typhoid fever in 1934 and 1937, and some 5,000 people died of the attacks. Once, when an infectious disease hit the region, the Tibetan authorities ordered to have the victims burned or buried alive, or drive the sick into a deep ravine tightly guarded by soldiers, leaving to them to the prey of hunger and animals. During these years, the mortality rate stayed higher than the birth rate. Tibetan population grew at a snail's pace. And the Tibetans enjoyed a short lifespan of 36 years.