We Need Your Help!
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. 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. Nyaya has arranged for funding for the renovations, infrastructure, supplies, and medicines from other sources, including the Ministry of Health and Populations of Nepal. Nyaya has asked ANMF to raise $21,473 to support the health worker training and salaries to staff the hospital for one year. By supporting local Nepali health providers, ANMF can have a significant long-term impact on the healthcare system in the region. Namely, ANMF will support:
- The training, equipping, and ongoing support of village-level paramedical providers known as community health workers (CHWs). These workers are the front-line providers of care in the geographically isolated villages. They perform outreach, follow-up patients, and communicate essential health messages to their local communities.
- The training, equipping and ongoing support of auxiliary nurse midwives (ANMs). These midwives are at the core of our healthcare service expansion plan. Through training and equipping them, Nyaya will be able to expand the current “Basic Obstetric Care Package” to “Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric Services” specified in the AMDD (Averting Maternal Death and Disability) model. In addition to services presently provided, the Comprehensive Package will include blood transfusion and the operating capacity and facilities for cesarean sections.
Nyaya's project in Achham was originally adopted by ANMF in 2006 as a long term development project. This project is a continuation of the earlier project 06NH001.
See the latest update from Nyaya.
For more information about this project, see Emergency Obstetric Services or contact ANMF.
This is a unique opportunity for you to make a difference for the people of Nepal. Please make a donation to the America Nepal Medical Foundation. ANMF is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and donations are tax deductible.
After you fill in the information below (so ANMF can track and acknowledge your contribution), you will be taken to a page with details on how to make your gift. Donations can be made to ANMF by check or online with a credit card, but a check means that a little bit more money gets to Nepal.
Thank you!