Pema Dorji

Life & Legacy

Pema Dorji (Dzongkha: དྲུང་འཚོ་པདྨ་རྡོ་རྗེ; 1936–2009) was a Bhutanese doctor (drungtsho) of traditional Bhutanese and Tibetan medicine, was the first person to institutionalize traditional medicine in Bhutan. He was the founding director of the National Indigenous Medicine Hospital and of the Institute of Indigenous Medicine in the capital Thimphu, and the key person behind the establishment of the Health Department's indigenous clinics and dispensaries in all 20 districts of Bhutan which make available free treatment and medicine to all the citizens of Bhutan.