The number of experts in Tibetan medicine has been continuously growing in the Tibet autonomous region over the past decade, according to the region's Health Commission at a conference on the development of Tibetan medicine on Wednesday.

The region has been making efforts to build an organic connection between college education, postgraduate education and continuing education.

Since its founding in 1989, the University of Tibetan Medicine has become the only independent higher education institution for Tibetan medicine in China. It has cultivated more than 7,000 students, 463 postgraduate students and 50 doctoral students.

"The university has been providing talent support for the development of Tibetan medicine all over the country using a master-apprentice model," said Kelsang Yudron, director of the commission. She added that prominent doctors of traditional Chinese medicine and Tibetan medicine have been invited to train more apprentices.

More than 100 inheritors of Tibetan medicine have been trained to become independent doctors, and 45 workshops have been set up for them over the period.

"In the long-term clinical practice of Tibetan medicine, a number of Tibetan medicine experts, mastering both medical ethics and skills, have emerged. They include three Tibetan doctors among the four famous Tibetan doctors of traditional Chinese medicine from our region," said Kelsang Yudron.

"The total number of permanent personnel involved at different levels has increased from 2,232 in 2012 to 3,800," she said.

Over the past decade, the scientific research level of Tibetan medicine has seen dramatic improvement. The first national clinical research base for ethnic medicine in China has been established at the Tibet Institute of Tibetan Medicine and Astrology. Four key laboratories at the regional level have been established at the institute.

In addition, more than 300 volumes of ancient Tibetan medical documents and more than 100,000 prescriptions from famous Tibetan doctors have been compiled over the past decade.

By Palden Nyima in Lhasa