Paper short abstract:

This paper examines some of the unintended consequences arising from the mainstreaming of Tibetan medicine in the Indian Himalayas, focusing on its effects on the social and economic dynamics of healing and on patterns of drug production and procurement

Paper long abstract:

The Government of India rolled out the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) in 2005 as a flagship programme for improving health standards in underserved regions through integrated, low cost and community-based initiatives. This ambitious programme can be understood as India's attempt to address its poor performance on many key indicators, while aligning its policies more closely with Global Health discourse and practice. A decade later, the NRHM has yielded many encouraging results, but certain aspects remain poorly understood. Notable amongst these is the 'mainstreaming' of traditional medicine services into primary healthcare, which was heralded as a low cost and locally adaptable solution for a range of health problems, as well as a boost to the herbal products industry.

This paper examines some of the unintended outcomes of the mainstreaming of Tibetan medicine in Himalayan India. It focuses upon the changing ways healers perceive their roles, relate to one another and their patients, and procure their medicines. How is the NRHM perceived differently by practitioners involved in the scheme and those excluded from it? What impact has it had on treatment seeking behaviour and moral economies of healing? How is growing public sector demand shaping medicine production and affecting the natural resource base? Exploring these issues provides a solid ethnographic basis from which to reflect upon the unanticipated effects of national schemes on the structure and dynamics of medical traditions at the local level, and upon the positioning of traditional medicine systems in Global Health more broadly.