First highway community hospital opens in Nepal

Nepal's first Highway Community Hospital has come into operation at Malekhu, Dhading district, along the Prithivi Highway --with partnership between social organisations of Nepal and Italy. Augustino Pienna, Italian Consular General of Kolkata, India, inaugurated the hospital amid a function on Saturday. The hospital was established with a view to provide necessary medical services to victims of road accidents along the highway as well as to the local people. Addressing the inaugural function, Pienna said that apart from providing medical services, the hospital will help facilitate the relations between Nepali and the Italian people. Chairman of the Hospital Management Committee, Rajendra Pandey, pointed out that the hospital would not only benefit the locals of Malekhu and surrounding areas, its emergency services will benefit the needy people from almost all parts of the country. A free health camp was organised on the occasion of the inauguration of the hospital. The concept of this hospital was brought forth by the Accident Victim Rescue Association (ACVRA). Several Italian nationals have donated through an organisation called Friends of Nepal. More

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"not to be arrogant" Author: Eric Cheng Time: 31.07.2007 00:29 Comment: But my friend and I, still both students tried to do what was best for the place. We purchased several boxes of sutures and functional blood pressure cuffs for the hospital. (These are essential supplies - they had a couple blood pressure cuffs, none of which worked properly) If you are ever thinking of donating, do NOT give $$$. Give your time, energy, expertise or things that people need. The caution with giving equipment is that someone will take the equipment and sell it. So be careful whatever you choose to do.

"Fraud" Author: Eric Cheng Time: 31.07.2007 00:27 Comment: Hello, To those interested on understanding the actual situation of this Highway Community Hospital. You may also liberally generalize this to many of the other hospitals in developing countries where the rich get richer and the poor left helpless. This hospital was an excellent idea and much needed in an area where there is no medical services for anyone within a 70km radius of this hospital. However, this hospital does very little over stabilizing an accident victim. I visited the hospital 3 times during my recent trip to Nepal, once I stayed overnight and this place was seriously dead. They are expanding the hospital that serves no one but emergency victims. None of the locals know about this hospital and it's been 2 years since it's opened. Obviously it doesn't provide the services it claims to. While we were there, there was a young child who came in involved in a vehicle accident. She had been hit by a motorbike and has some facial cuts that were being sutured with the wrong sized sutures. They were using sutures that would probably leave a scar larger than the cut itself. But that's all that was there. This hospital is seriously poorly run. With little to no patients on a regular basis, who is this hospitally really for? I'm going to blatantly point a finger to the hospital administration. Where else is all this foreign aid going, but into the pockets of the people there. If you just go there and open your eyes you will see how many people in the surrounding villages are in DESPERATE need of medical attention, but they do not know to come to this place because it is NOT free. But there is MORE than enough money to offer basic services to these people with the amount of foreign aid that's being poured into this place. I know this because they are expanding a hospital that is not being used. Why is funding being placed into expanding a non-functional hospital. Is it so that contributors can say that they built something? I believe that impacting people that need help was what the original intent of this place was about, please go and visit and see for yourself what corrupt has done to this place. It's not only this place, but I visited many other local clinic and the same resounding theme is there. Corrupt administration that skims off most of the funding as is taking advantage of the poor marketing their plea to the world for their own benefit. Put a stop to this, come and see for yourself. Please email me if you have any questions, comments, concerns. I greatly appreciate your feedback. Let's work together for the cause of those who need help most. Peace, Eric eric.o.cheng@gmail.com

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