Tsewang Yishey Pemba

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Dr. Tsewang Yishey Pemba (5 June 1932 – 26 November 2011) MBBS (London) FRCS was the first Tibetan to become a doctor in western medicine, and to become a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons.[1] He founded the first hospital in Bhutan. He is also credited for writing the first work of fiction by a Tibetan in English, "Idols on the Path",[2] published in 1966, and is also regarded as the first Tibetan to publish a book in English, "Young Days in Tibet",[3] published by Jonathan Cape in 1957.[4]

Biography

Lhamo Tsering, Sumal Sinha, Pemba Tsering, Phuntsok Tashi Takla, Lhasa 1952

Dr. Pemba was born in 1932 in Gyantse, Tibet. His father was Rai Saheb Pemba Tsering, a prominent member of the British Political Office having served as British Trade Agent.[5] The Pemba family had also made Gangtok their home, living in the residence of the late Tashi Tsering, President of Sikkim State Congress.[6]

Tsewang "Yishy" Pemba had no formal education until the age of nine when he started in 1941 at Victoria Boys School in Kurseong where he was until 1948. Decades later he wrote about his experience.

Tai Situ Rinpoche and Shamarpa.[9]

In 1965 he returned to Britain to specialize in surgery and 1966 he was awarded the Hallett Prize for coming first in the primary examinations of the Royal College of Surgeons; he became a Fellow in 1967.

WHO in Geneva.[12] While in Bhutan, Dr Pemba served as consulting physician to Bhutan's royal family in this period as well.[13]

Dr Tsewang Yishey Pemba died at Siliguri on 26 November 2011.[14] He is survived by four children. A fifth child predeceased him in 2009. His wife, Tsering Sangmo, passed away in 2016.

Books

  1. Young Days in Tibet (1957). Autobiography.
  2. Idols on the Path (1966). The first novel written by a Tibetan in English.
  3. White Crane, Lend Me Your Wings (2017, Delhi: Niyogi Books). Posthumously published work.[15]
  4. Tibet as I Knew It: The Memoir of Dr. Tsewang Yishey Pemba (2022, Lexington Books). Memoir.
  5. Journal of a Doctor to Tibetan Mystics and Masters (2023, Blackneck Books). Non-fiction.

External links

  1. Peer reviewed biography of Tsewang Yishey Pemba by Tenzin Dickie on The Treasury of Lives https://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Tsewang-Yishey-Pemba/13723

References

  1. ISBN 978-90-5356-518-6
    .
  2. ASIN B0006BSD3O
    .
  3. ASIN B001813L2O
    .
  4. ^ "Tsewang Yishey Pemba". The Daily Telegraph. 28 December 2011. Retrieved 10 January 2012.
  5. S2CID 162810940
    .
  6. ^ "A Son of the Hills Passes away". Isikkim. 30 November 2011. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  7. ^ "GLIMPSES of DOW HILL SCHOOL 1941 1948".
  8. S2CID 58745952
    .
  9. ^ "Obituary". The Times. 12 January 2012. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
  10. PMID 19310491
    .
  11. ISBN 978-0-8112-0570-2
    .
  12. ISBN 978-90-5356-518-6
    .
  13. ^ "A Man of Many Firsts". Kuenseonline. 12 November 2011. Retrieved 10 January 2012.[permanent dead link]
  14. ^ "A Son of the hills Dr. Tsewang Yishey Pemba passes away". Sikkim Mail. 30 November 2011.
  15. ISBN 978-93-85285-62-2
    .
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