The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Bhutan is emerging as a key player in the health security sector of South and Southeast Asia, having recently hosted the Regional Pandemic Preparedness Workshop on July 9–10 in Thimphu.
The event builds on Bhutan’s longstanding partnership with the International Vaccine Institute (IVI), which began in 1996 when Bhutan signed the IVI Establishment Agreement.
The collaboration was further solidified in June 2024 with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Ministry of Health, the Khesar Gyalpo University of Medical Sciences of Bhutan (KGUMSB), and IVI, laying the groundwork for deeper cooperation in vaccine research, health systems innovation, and capacity development.
The newly launched center will serve as a hub for collaborative research on pressing public health issues, including vaccine-preventable diseases, antimicrobial resistance, health economics, climate change, and future pandemic preparedness.
It will also support Bhutan’s immunization efforts by exploring sustainable financing strategies, including the strengthening of the Bhutan Health Trust Fund.
Alongside research, the center will focus on developing academic programs and professional development initiatives through joint curriculum design, scholarship opportunities, and exchange programs.
Human resource development will be another key area, with initiatives such as technical training, and institutional capacity strengthening set to be rolled out in the coming months.
However, Bhutan’s ambition to become a leader in global health comes with internal challenges. While the country’s health and medical research ecosystem is expanding, it remains in the early stages of development.
In a recent communication to the Ministry of Finance, the Officiating President of KGUMSB outlined several persistent barriers: limited research infrastructure, insufficient funding, the absence of formal recognition or incentives for researchers, and slow ethical review processes caused by the unpaid status of members of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) and Research Ethics Board of Health (REBH).
To address these challenges, KGUMSB has developed a comprehensive Business Strategy and Research Policy, endorsed by its Governing Council. The strategy aims to transform Bhutan’s research environment into one that is sustainable, self-sufficient, and capable of meeting both national and regional demands.
Among its proposals is an off-hour clinic model that allows for remuneration of research mentors and guest lecturers, an effort to attract and retain skilled professionals who may currently be discouraged by the lack of incentives.
To improve the pace and quality of ethical review, the university proposes compensating IRB reviewers at Nu 875 per paper and IRB chairs at Nu 500.
Recognizing the time-intensive nature of research proposal development, the policy also includes a two percent development fee for external proposals and offers Nu 1,000 per hour—up to 15 hours, for in-house staff engaged in writing research applications. These measures aim to acknowledge and reward the often-unrecognized labor involved in generating high-quality research.
For long-term sustainability, KGUMSB is advocating for the creation of a dedicated endowment fund to support strategic initiatives such as Druksokchop, the International Centre for Maternal and Child Health (ICMH), and various capacity-building programs.
These currently rely heavily on donor funding or short-term project grants. The proposed fund would be generated from diverse revenue streams, including 10 percent allocations from research grants, fees from Continuous Professional Development (CPD) trainings, usage fees from simulation labs, and publication charges from the Bhutan Health Journal.
All income would be reinvested into research and academic advancement, reducing reliance on government budgets and ensuring long-term institutional growth.
As the country embraces its role in shaping regional health systems, it is also committing to building the internal capacity required to sustain that responsibility.
