To all the wonderful friends and supporters of CHANCE for NEPAL and first-time visitors to my page.
As COVID-19 cases continue to rise rapidly, Nepal is on 18 days of lockdown to contain the second wave of the pandemic that is sweeping across the country. Nepal is recording 60 times more daily cases than at the start of April. Both infections and death rates are record highs. The coronavirus is overwhelming Nepal and hospitals don’t have enough beds, patients are treated on the ground outside hospital buildings and patients are dying because of lack of oxygen. The health system has collapsed and the government has failed to act fast.
Most of the infected people are at home without effective care because hospitals are all full daily warnings of just a few hours of oxygen.
There is no choice but for Covid victims to be nursed at home. The trauma of feeling alone and helpless for their loved ones is devastating and worsening by the day. Thus, the real concerns of the family need to be addressed.
We wish to help twofold – firstly to help Dr Aban Gautam, founder of Mountain Heart Nepal, who we have been supporting for the past 5 years. He is building a community hospital in Hetauda. He urgently seeks help to reach the desperate people by offering a Toll-Free Helpline at the new construction hospital site. They will provide non-clinical advice and counselling, including details about the isolation period and what contacts should do if they have, or develop, symptoms of COVID-19. The information about the availability of the service will be transmitted through radio jingles on a daily basis. The field counsellor will also liaise with a range of partner agencies to ensure the provision of effective, efficient, and timely response and support to patients. This will be set up for a period of 6 months with the possibility of expansion depending on the situation.
Furthermore, we need to step up our food relief parcels because, as lockdown takes its grip, daily workers are receiving no pay and families are going hungry! You were magnificent in April 2020 with such generosity. Please dig deep and help us to help them.
I thank you from the bottom of my heart which feels so heavy in hearing daily the suffering happening right now in Nepal! You can donate here, through Facebook, or through our website:
www.chancefornepal.org THANK YOU. Barbara
