Perinatal and Pediatric Care in Western Nepal

 

This fourteen minute video describes Nyaya's project in Achham.

 

Over the last year Nyaya Health has renovated a grain shed into a clinic and employed the only allopathic doctor in a region of over 250,000 people. In that time, they have treated over 15,000 patients, established the only safe birthing center in the district, and deployed the first ultrasound in the entire region.

Two decades ago, a hospital was built in the district of Achham in the Far Western region of Nepal. Poor, rural, and without government services, the district was without any major health facilities. But the Hospital did not see its opening day. Through a bureaucratic entanglement, it was decided to move the hospital to a location with a more powerful constituency. Locals in Achham -- where maternal mortality, malnutrition, and HIV were among the highest rates in all of Asia -- surrounded the hospital and demanded health services.

For intruding on the government's moving plans, they were shot, and several were killed. Years later, the Bayalpata Hospital complex remains abandoned, standing on a local hill as a symbol of neglect.

Nyaya Health has provided the first comprehensive health services to this area in years. They have employed the only allopathic physician in the district of 250,000 people. Now, they wish to finally open Bayalpata Hospital.

The situation is critical. The nearest ventilator, essential for providing breathing support to seriously ill patients, is 14 hours away. The nearest blood transfusion center and functioning operating room is over 10 hours away. As a result of this, maternal mortality is 100 times greater in Achham than in the United States. Nyaya's clinic has begun to address the lack of health services, but they are already treating 140 patients a day and demand is growing as their community health worker network expands. By renovating the abandoned hospital, Nyaya will be able to expand outpatient services; provide inpatient beds; implement a blood transfusion program; and roll out an essential surgical program. The construction and three-year operating financial need for the hospital is $580,000. They have raised $224,000 for this purpose to date. Your tax-deductible donations will go a long way towards their goal.

See the latest report from Nyaya.

For more information about this project, see Perinatal and Pediatric Care in Western Nepal, November 2008 Update or contact ANMF.

1/18/09 - Project completed and extended with project 09NH001.