Healthcare

We got our start by providing basic medical care to remote villages during treks. We built on this experience to organize medical treks, establish permanent healthposts in the region, and train local healthworkers. Medical treks give villagers access to trained medical profssionals; healthposts provide a permanent presence essential to long-term health gains. Through these efforts, today HHC provides primary care, including prenatal care and treatment of infectious diseases, to over 13,000 people living in the villages of Tipling, Sherthung, Borang, Lapa and Jharlang. These villages are located in a remote region northwest of Kathmandu in the Dhading District, an area with a large lower-caste population trapped in the grinding poverty associated with subsistence farming.                                                                                                                                              In March 2004, HHC opened the Megh Bahadur Parajuli Community Hospital in the town of Ilam and modeled on a new approach to healthcare in Nepal. The Ilam hospital is fundamentally a community facilty and will be turned over to the people of Ilam once it has become self-sustaining. The hospital operates on a new model for healthcare in Nepal, one premised on the fact that "free" healthcare delivered through government programs has failed the people of Nepal. HHC believes that healthcare in Nepal must be rooted in community institutions that are supported monetarily by the local population—both through fees for service and donations. HHC hopes that the Ilam hospital will serve as a model for similar projects in other parts of Nepal. The Ilam hospital is located in eastern Nepal in a region of approximately 400 thousand people living in 48 villages.                                                                                                                                                                                                In the past, this entire population was served by only one physician at a government district hospital, and access to even basic healthcare was at best uncertain. HHC's project in Ilam has changed things completely; the Ilam clinic is a modern, well organized facility, giving the local population access to 24-hour medical care, including basic surgery and radiology. The Ilam clinic also offers dental and optometry services.