Further Medical Assistance

For the visitor, it is horrifying to see how diseases that are easily treatable in our country can have dire consequences in Nepal.

Diseases like pneumonia and bronchitis, gastro-intestinal diseases, children's diseases, anaemia etc. prove fatal time and time again in our project area, because there is not even the money for the appropriate medication available, nor is there a doctor in Kumbu. Only in Kathmandu do people get the proper treatment for many ailments. But for the majority of the population, a journey to Kathmandu is out of the question due to their poverty. As they have to keep working hard even with serious physical discomfort, the people are worn out at an early age and have little resilience.

The Initiative attempts to help as much as possible, especially when serious cases necessitate treatment or an operation in Kathmandu. Unfortunately, the money is not always available. We are grateful for any donation to help us provide more active support.

The following examples show, where an operation or treatment in Kathmandu can improve the living situation of a person significantly:

Fracture which had to be corrected

Tumour in right ellbow joint

Burns

Because of the habit to do the cooking over an open fire, burns are a common occurrence in rural Nepal. Especially in children, where the scars do not grow with them, this leads to grave deformation, depending on the affected body parts. On request, we finance the costs for the operation including transport and stay in the capital. In this instance, we cooperate with the Sushma Koirala Hospital, which has since its creation an active technical assistance from Interplast Germany.

Burns, after multiple skin transplantation

A foot which hung in the fire

 

Children with cleft lips and palates are equally common in Nepal. Most people don't know that this hideous deformation can successfully be corrected surgically. For such cases, too, the said hospital has the appropriate specialists.

For problematic cases, there is no solution in Nepalese health stations. If there is no sponsor to pay for the transport to a clinic or a qualified doctor, it could result in the death of the child and the mother as well. We therefore have agreed that the nurse we are sponsoring can send women to a doctor or hospital at project cost, if she notices any problems with their pregnancies. That way, we hope to contribute to the reduction of the number of high-risk deliveries and, consequently, deaths. 

If possible we invite doctors to come to our projekt area in order to examine the population or at least all students and treat them when necessary. So in 2001 there was a German eye doctor and 2013 a Nepalese dentist in Kumbu for one week.