We are thrilled to announce that our new Health Care Centre in Purandhara, 600 kms west of Kathmandu in the region of Dang is now completed and operational. This fantastic service will give medical care to 500 families, about 3,000 people from remote villages.
Before this Health Care Centre, the people from these remote villages had to walk for two hours to get to the nearest road, to then be able to catch the one bus a day to the city where there is a hospital, another 2 hours away. This also meant that the family incurred the cost of accommodation for one night in the city and the return to their village by bus the following day. This often led to the patient not getting the medical care they needed because of cost and time, too ill to travel and during the monsoon season, this journey is all the more difficult because of mud slides.
The Health Care Centre is in memory of Martin Lawson who loved Nepal. His wife Gilly funded the building costs of the Health Centre as she wished for a fitting and lasting tribute to Martin who would have loved the idea. This came about during one of our fund-raising events, where Gilly approached CHANCE to see if this was possible.
CHANCE will fund all the running costs of this facility for a minimum of three years, including a female midwife, a male nurse, medicines, supplements, a visiting doctor if needed and transportation to hospital in emergency cases. The nurses will also visit the remote villages giving talks on nutrition, hygiene and dental care. All children will have their height and weight checked every year, more if found necessary to ensure they are growing properly and no stunting is found. We have also funded the furniture for the Centre and a solar panel to run a small fridge to keep some of the medicines cool and power a light.
Our first Health Centre in Dhubichour, also in the Dang region, has been operational and successful for two years.
Bidya, founder of GMIN (Grassroot Movement in Nepal) one of our partners on the ground in Nepal who we have worked with for several years now will visit once a month to monitor the Health Centre and give regular reports to CHANCE.
They are a trusted and brilliant organisation.
