[Xinhua is the Official News Agency of the People's Republic of China]

LHASA (Oct. 23) XINHUA - A grand ceremony was held today in Lhasa, capital city of Tibet Autonomous Region, in southwest China, to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Tibetan Medical Hospital.

Gyalcan Norbu, chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Regional Government, said at the ceremony that Tibetan medicine, which is an important part of traditional Chinese medicine, has formed a unique theoretical system and diagnosis and treatment methods over the past 2,000-odd years.

Tibetan Medical Hospital, which now has 440 medical staff, 20 departments and 250 beds, receives 200,000 outpatients a year.