The Beijing Tibetan and Ethnic Medicine Hospital, the only national-level ethnic hospital in Beijing, has cured one million patients since its opening 17 years ago.

A Tibetan doctor of the Beijing Tibetan and Ethnic Medicine Hospital explains an anatomical picture to visitors on December 1, 2007, photo from Xinhua.

Since the Central Government has been making great efforts to boost the development of Tibetan medicines in recent years, the hospital has achieved great success in medical care, research and development, education and infrastructure construction.

The departments of cardio-cerebral-vascular diseases, diabetes and hepatopathy in the hospital have been designated as national-level priority departments.

Huang Fukai, director of the hospital, said that Tibetan medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, ancient Indian medicine and ancient Arabian medicine were known as the four major traditional medicine systems in the world. But people in the inland areas were not familiar with Tibetan medicine for a long time.

Photo taken on May 13, 2009, shows a nurse working at the Beijing Tibetan and Ethnic Medicine Hospital, photo from Xinhua.

Now, Tibetan medicine, which used to be passed down on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, has been introduced to inland areas to the benefit of patients from all ethnic groups.

Meanwhile, the hospital has established a research and development institute on Tibetan medicines together with the Hefei-based University of Science and Technology of China and Tsinghua University.

The institute has developed 19 kinds of Tibetan medicaments, built a resource pool of Tibetan medicines on the verge of extinction and planted 20 kinds of precious Tibetan medicinal herbs in Tibet's Nyingchi Prefecture.