Lha facilitates initiatives to improve community health by increasing awareness of the importance of hygiene and physical well-being. Donations of medicine are collected and distributed by Lha to public health centers, such as Delek Hospital and the Central Tibetan Administration’s Department of Health. Lha also holds workshops on HIV-AIDS and provides information on sexually transmitted diseases.

Every year, Lha observes World AIDS Day and organizes events to raise public awareness of AIDs-HIV treatment and prevention. Public awareness activities include talks, distributing condoms, handing out pamphlets in three languages (Tibetan, Hindi and English), free blood tests, street plays and processions.

With hepatitis being a common health issue in the Tibetan community, Lha also arranges awareness talks to Lha’s adult students every year.

Medical Conference

In 2016 Lha Charitable Trust hosted the first Mindful Medicine Conference in conjunction with Delek Hospital, Men Tsee Khan, Ochsner Medical Center of New Orelans and the Louisiana Mississippi Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (LMHPCO). Professionals and students from the United States met with Tibetan medical students and doctors based in Dharamshala. The conference was attended by over twenty doctors and nurses. Speakers for the three-day event included: Prof Samdhong Rinpoche, who spoke on Mindfulness in Integrative Medical Practice – the mind and body connection; Dr Tsetan Dorjee, the Chief Medical Officer of Delek Hospital; Dr Parveen Sharma from the government medical college and hospital in Kangra; Dr. Tenzin Yeshi of traditional Tibetan medicine from Men-tse-khang; Dr Jonathan Nussdorf, chairman of the department of ophthalmology and Chris Blais chairman of the department of infectious disease at Ochsner Medical Center in the US, and Dr Kevin Dischert a senior fellow in pulmonary and critical care medicine at the Louisiana State University (LSU) Health Center. This conference is scheduled to be an annual event held every October.

Medical Assistance Project

In a new environment speaking a different language, many Tibetans endure unnecessary suffering due to confusion about western medical care and or lack of financial ability to seek services. Through our medical assistance program many of those are now receiving the care they need. Lha Charitable Trust now works with two teams of medical students from New Orleans, Louisiana. Students groups from Tulane and Louisiana State University (LSU) Med Schools come to Dharamshala each summer to work with our Tibetan translators and do medical, dental and eye care assessments with over 500 monks and nuns. These students are all under the supervision of medial programs director Shuchin Shukla MD. Following the assessments, those in need are referred to Tibetan Delek Hospital and other health care suppliers to receive the care they need.

In the past three summers over 77% of all those assessed were in need of medical, dental or eye care. For all emergency needs discovered, transportation to Delek Hospital is supplied immediately. For all non-emergency needs, records are clearly documented and then our follow-up volunteers assure all those in need are transported to health care providers to receive the services they need – medical, dental or eye care. 100% of all those services are free of charge to the monks and nuns and fully paid for with generous donations received for these Lha Charitable Trust programs.

Lha hosts many volunteers from across the world. When we have volunteers who are experienced medical practitioners, we arrange free public health care services in the community. We have now also arranged two free acupuncture sessions where 86 of the people living at Jampaling Elders home were treated over two week periods.

Clear Vision Project (Eye Care)

In Lha’s classrooms, it is not uncommon to find a student struggling due to visual difficulty. Many Tibetans need glasses. The cost of an eye exam, including transportation and a new pair of glasses, is roughly $20.

Through the Clear Vision project, individuals in need are able to receive free eye check-ups and prescription glasses. Since the start of this project in 2009, over 600 Tibetans have received free eye glasses while others received eye surgery and or medication.

Tibetan Smiles Project (Dental Care)

Many of the Tibetans we serve come from remote areas of the Himalayas where dental services are not available. In India, their diets include processed sugar and other foods harmful to teeth. Lacking dental hygiene education and financial resources, many experience painful, serious dental problems.

Since the inception of this program in 2011, Lha has been committed to providing a broad range of quality dental services to those in need.

This program keeps growing as we continue to discover more Tibetan refugees in desperate need of dental care. Over 30% of the monks and nuns thus far assessed by our volunteer medical teams have needed dental care. To date Lha has organized treatment and provided funding for 863 Tibetans to receive dental care.

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