Dr. Karma Tshering Wangchuk

Dr. Karma Tshering Wangchuk is a paediatrician at the Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital (JDWNRH) — Bhutan's main referral hospital in Thimphu and the country's highest-level medical facility. With 13 years of paediatric clinical experience, he provides specialist child health care for Bhutan's population, managing cases referred from district hospitals across the country.

Bhutan has made remarkable strides in child health over the past two decades through targeted interventions — immunisation programs, improved maternal care, and the deployment of a trained community health worker network. Under-5 mortality has fallen dramatically, and Dr. Wangchuk's paediatric practice builds on this foundation by providing specialist care for children with serious illness requiring referral-level management.

Neonatal sepsis, childhood pneumonia, diarrhoeal disease with severe dehydration, febrile convulsions, and nutritional deficiencies remain important paediatric concerns. Dr. Wangchuk manages the full spectrum of childhood illness and has particular expertise in neonatal care. He consults in Dzongkha — Bhutan's national language — and English.

Dr. Wangchuk completed his medical training through the Bhutan health system's sponsored overseas education program — a government scholarship scheme through which Bhutanese medical students attend medical colleges in India, Sri Lanka, or Bangladesh, returning home to serve in the national health system. Bhutan's medical education depends substantially on this model, given the absence of a full domestic medical school.

He holds an MD in Pediatrics from his specialist postgraduate training, completed in India through a recognized pediatrics postgraduate programme. He additionally completed a Certificate in Neonatology through structured advanced training in neonatal intensive care. He has participated in WHO-supported child health training programs including IMCI (Integrated Management of Childhood Illness) and ETAT+ (Emergency Triage, Assessment and Treatment), and is registered with the Bhutan Medical and Health Council as a specialist paediatrician.

Dr. Wangchuk's paediatric practice covers neonatal care (resuscitation, management of neonatal sepsis, neonatal jaundice, and preterm infant care), general childhood illness (pneumonia, diarrhoeal disease, febrile illness, urinary tract infections), paediatric emergencies (severe dehydration, febrile convulsions, status epilepticus), and nutritional disorders including severe acute malnutrition. He oversees childhood immunisation at JDWNRH and conducts growth and developmental monitoring. He performs neonatal resuscitation, lumbar puncture, IV cannulation in small children, and intraosseous access in emergency situations.

JDWNRH serves Bhutanese domestic patients and occasional expatriate families working in Bhutan's development sector. Dr. Wangchuk consults in Dzongkha and English. Bhutan attracts limited numbers of long-term expatriate workers from international organizations, who may access paediatric services at JDWNRH. For complex cases requiring tertiary paediatric subspecialty care, referrals to Indian specialist hospitals — particularly in Kolkata, Vellore, and Delhi — are arranged through established international referral pathways.

Dr. Wangchuk has been recognized by JDWNRH's medical leadership for his contributions to neonatal care services — including developing the hospital's neonatal resuscitation capacity — and for his role in paediatric education and clinical training at Bhutan's national referral hospital. He is an active member of the Bhutan Paediatric Society and contributes to continuing medical education for district hospital doctors and nurses in child health protocols.

He has participated in WHO and UNICEF-supported child health programs in Bhutan, including programmes targeting neonatal sepsis management and childhood malnutrition treatment. He contributes to outreach training for Bhutan's community health workers to ensure early identification and appropriate referral of seriously ill children from rural communities to JDWNRH.