The ambulance service in Ruby Valley has started in April 2024!
In three decades of our work in remote Ruby Valley, the people had to walk three days to the nearest town for every small thing in their life and also for health care. With a very physical lifestyle and harsh living conditions there is always trauma and varied pathology, most of which went untreated due to poor government-provided health care which led to harsh morbidity and high mortality so much so that the lifespan was between 40-50 years when HHC intervened in 1992. Over the decades slowly the healthcare services has taken a turn and now a dirt road, activated by HHC during the 2015 devastating earthquake recovery work, has finally reached the main village of Sertung which is exciting! Even though it is a treacherous narrow road through the mountains, it means new opportunities of life and livelihood for Ruby Valley with its far-flung villages and hard to reach settlements. For our project, this new seasonal road means a four-wheel drive ambulance that is helping hundreds of patients and saving lives. It is one more critical service that we have delivered to strengthen the health service of the region. Ruby Valley Rural Municipality has taken charge of the ambulance and responsibility of the driver and maintenance of the vehicle as agreed upon. The cost of the ambulance in Nepal was around $17K (NRs. 20 lakhs). We thank all our friends for your generosity. We hope to add another ambulance in the next couple of years to help further.