Name Barbara Nath-Wiser | Role Doctor | |
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Dr barbara nath wiser documentary on panorama 1991
Barbara Nath-Wiser (born 1949 in Linz), is an Austrian doctor. She studied Medicine in Vienna and emigrated to India in 1978. She founded the NISHTHA centre (NISHTHA = Sanskrit "Trust") for the people of the Kangra Valley. Nishtha is situated in Sidhbari, the hometown of her former husband Krishan Nath Baba, near Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh. This rural health, education and environment centre provides alternative medicine such as homeopathy, acupuncture or Ayurveda, but also allopathy treatments.
In 1986 her husband died. Barbara Nath-Wiser decided to stay in India in order to continue her project. In 2004 she received the Two Wings Award; she was also named among the "1000 Peace Women across the Globe" in 2005.
Since 2003 Nistha is an official partner institution of the Austrian Social Service and hosts volunteers from the Austrian Service Abroad who work at Nishtha for 12 months.