Compounder Khoe's posting at Sarpang provided the first modern medical treatment in Bhutan; nonetheless, the services of the local tea garden doctors across the border were utilised in all other towns, with excellent personal relationships maintained.

In Thimphu and Paro, several licentiate (LMF) doctors with Indian training independently practiced medicine, mainly as royal physicians.

To address the health care requirements of its citizens, local officials in Samchi, Sarbang, Chirang, and Sibsoo established tiny dispensaries, first involving foreign compounders.

Although more of the on-the-job training/apprentice was formally finished at Charteries Hospital in Kalimpong and then posted to the various clinics across the nation, the training of compounders persisted.

As a result, when the nation's planned socioeconomic development program began in 1961, we had 11 clinics spread across Haa, Paro, Trongsa, Bumthang, Trashigang, Sibsoo, Tsirang, Samdrupjongkhar, Kalikhola, and Dagapela, as well as two hospitals (Thimphu and Samtse).

Real infrastructure development didn't start until the 1980s, when Bhutan signed the Alma Ata statement in 1978, which emphasised the Primary Health Care concept.There are currently 156 BHUs, 654 outreach clinics, and 28 hospitals.

The Government was primarily responsible for funding, but international organisations such as UNICEF, WHO, and Disarmo e Sviluppo (DISVI, an Italian NGO) were also involved.

After WHO donated some pharmaceutical equipment in 1982, it was able to begin planning the development of dispensaries to other districts, including Punakha, Trashigang, Trongsa, Bumthang, and eventually Haa.

As the centre for traditional medicine development, NITM served as a foundation for the field's future growth, conducting research, producing medications, and treating patients.

In 1946, Pema Dorji departed to train as a Drungthso in Lhasa Chakpori, Tibet, after she gave him instructions to carry on the profession to his grandson.

After earning his degree in 1953, he went back to Bhutan and worked for his uncle, Neten Tsewang Gyeltshen, in Trongsa Dzong for nine years.

The NITM performs three tasks: treating patients, researching and producing indigenous medicine, and training Drungthso and sMenpa (traditional compounders).