Health
Access to healthcare is not straightforward for many in Gorkha. Understaffed and ill-equipped facilities, challenging terrain, inadequate transport infrastructure and lack of basic understanding of healthcare and sanitation practices among the (often illiterate) poor, make this a crucial area for development.
Gorkha Foundation assists doctors, nurses and healthcare professionals in the region by providing them with quality tools and support to advance the standard of care for communities.
Through our work with the hospitals in Amppipal, Jaubari and Gorkha Bazaar (the three main health facilities in the district), we are able to serve almost 50% of the region’s population.
Amppipal hospital has general outpatient and inpatient services with laboratory, X-ray and ultrasound diagnostic facilities. It provides the only regular surgical service in Gorkha and the adjacent district of Lamjung. It offers 46-bed inpatient treatment and the outpatient department treats on average 70 patients daily.
The foundation has shipped complete pediatric, surgical and physiotherapy suites, as well as examination and special care units to Amppipal hospital, helping to revitalize this facility and bring improved medical care to hundreds of people. In addition to technical units and equipment, we have provided:
- Wheelchairs
- Beds and mattresses
- Cabinets and storage units
- Gowns and patient clothing
- Dressing materials and other consumables
Gorkha Foundation has done, and continues to do, wonderful work here and in the surrounding areas – Babu Ram Giri, Chief Administrator of Amppipal Hospital
After the 2015 Gorkha earthquake, the foundation was instrumental in bringing much needed supplies up to the hospital at Gorkha Bazaar for the relief effort.
Our remit also extends to working with key medical partners outside the Gorkha region, including BP Cancer Hospital in Chitwan (the only major cancer hospital in Nepal) and Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in Katmandu. A foundation team led by board member Dr. Richard Hirsh brought brand new mammography machines to both of these institutions, as well as assistance with calibration and training from our engineers. We also provided lectures on breast cancer at the University Teaching Hospital, which was attended by over 100 physicians from all over Nepal.
Previously the Cancer Hospital had not performed any basic mammography screening, but now they have been able to upgrade the quantity and quality of service for the patients of these areas.
Smokeless Stoves
In collaboration with the Himalayan Stove Project, the foundation is dedicated to improving the health of the people of Gorkha by overseeing the equitable distribution of domestic and industrial smoke-free stoves.
Smoke-free, fuel-efficient Envirofit cook stoves transform the lives of families who until now have used traditional, rudimentary stoves or open fire pits inside their homes; consuming excessive amounts of precious fuel and polluting the indoor air to dangerously unhealthy levels.
Stove community workshop,
Credit: Harvey and Malinda Blustain
Using smokeless stove
Credit: Chris Maxted
The foundation provides HSP with identification of target areas in the region, community consultations, equitable distribution of stoves and evaluation of stove acceptance and effectiveness. So far, Gorkha Foundation has been able to deliver stoves to 200 families throughout the district, and current research and evaluation is being used to build on these successes.
