ABSTRACT
This chapter relates the inspiring yet ultimately tragic story of Yangkar, born in 1906. Far from commonplace, she was a practitioner of Tibetan medicine and an eye surgeon in an era when women were rarely able to train as doctors. Born into the nobility, she was fortunate that her father, a renowned physician, passed on to her his knowledge and skills and mentored her through his medical colleagues. She asked no payment when treating beggars and commoners; she performed cataract surgery on the king of Bhutan, and she trained many women doctors in gynaecology and paediatrics. Her birthright as a member of the nobility was held against her during the Cultural Revolution, and she was denied permission to practise medicine. She nevertheless continued to treat patients. She died in 1974, herself denied medical treatment after a fall. Her story was related by her son and her daughter.
