Tibetannet

Tashi Tsering, head of the Artificial Cultivation Technology Research Base for Endangered Tibetan Medicine Materials at the Tibet Autonomous Region Tibetan Medicine Hospital, revealed that as of now, 27 species of Tibetan medicine plants can be industrialized.

The Tibet Autonomous Region Tibetan Medicine Hospital Mensikang Pharmaceutical Preparation Room is the largest such medicinal preparation room in Tibet. According to Lhakpa Tsering, director of the Preparation Room, current Tibetan medicine production is almost 100 percent dependent on wild Tibetan medicinal plant resources.

"At the Tibetan medicine clinic, entire Meconopsis pill made of 25 kinds of herbs and materials is a medicine commonly used for the treatment of liver diseases. But the entire Meconopsis plant is an endangered Tibetan medicinal plant, and the wild resources are decreasing," Lhakpa Tsering said.

He added that due to a lack of raw materials, they can only produce an appropriate amount of medicine based on the conditions of hospital patients. In market, however, it is difficult to buy this medicine.

Lhakpa Tsering believes that compared with the cultivation of industrialized plants in traditional Chinese medicine, there is currently no scale for the cultivation of Tibetan medicinal plants in Tibet, which has led to a predicament in producing some commonly used Tibetan medicines. Thus, the need to cultivate Tibetan medicinal herbs is extremely urgent.

After years of research, the Tibet Autonomous Region Artificial Cultivation Technology Research Base for Endangered Tibetan Medicine Materials now stores eight varieties of endangered Tibetan medicinal herbs. In addition, they have been able to successfully domesticate 27 kinds of Tibetan medicinal plants and have achieved the necessary conditions for industrialization of these plants.

Pema Yudron, director of the Plant Tissue Cultivation Center in the Institute of Vegetable Research at the Tibet Autonomous Region Academy of Farming and Animal Husbandry Sciences, said that they currently have the required technical conditions for industrial planting of many varieties of endangered Tibetan medicinal plants. She believes that the Tibetan medicine industry needs policy guidance to further break through barriers between technology, farmers, and Tibetan medicine pharmaceutical manufacturers, and to make sustainable use of Tibetan medicinal plant resources.