Croat Med J. 1999 Mar; 40(1): 38-41.

Study of the history of medicine in Georgia.

Shengelia R.

Department of the History of Medicine, Tbilisi State Medical University, 7, Asatiani Street, Tbilisi 380077, Georgia. actsg@actsg.ge

There are different approaches to teaching the history of medicine in different countries. Teaching the history of medicine in Georgia is bound to its traditional medicine. Georgian medicine originated at the crossroads of the East and West and thus integrates the principles of both medical traditions. The Research Department of the History of Georgian Medicine and Traditional Medicine at Experimental and Clinical Medical Institute of Tbilisi State University has, over 40 years, collected a unique material on Georgian folk medicine, including thousands of recipes and hundreds of active components of herbal, animal, and mineral origin. Our project for the future is to prepare National Formulary of Georgian Medicine. In the work with students, we aim to teach them the basis of Chinese, Indian, Caucasian, Arabian, American, Australian, and African folk medicine, the basis of homeopathy and antroposophy, paleopathology, and bioarcheology so that they incorporate them into modern medicine and clinical practice.