Tibet medicine database

A database specializing in Tibetan medicine will be built by 2015 as the Tibet Autonomous Region's health sector becomes more digitalized, the region's culture authorities announced on Wednesday.

The database, in the Library of Tibet in Lhasa, will have information on pharmacology, the effects of pharmaceutical products and the composition of Tibetan medicine.

Tibetan medicine, which is at least 2,300 years old, is similar to traditional Chinese medicine and uses herbs, minerals and sometimes insects and animals for treatment.

A local hospital and Tibet University have jointly dispatched a team of researchers to survey medicine resources. Over 3,000 samples of medicinal plants will also be put into the database.