The 21. of febrary 2013 we went to a remote place about 30 km from Bharatpur (and the CMCTH) to do a health check-up of the redidents of a small village near the somewhat bigger village of Piple.
Dr. Hamal from the govornmental Health Post in Piple was to be our superviser and we were there to help out wherever we could and to observe how medical treatment reaches remote places of Nepal.
Getting there itself turned out to be some party – they played dance music almost all the was even though the busride was from 8:00-9:30 in the morning and approprietely (just to avoid beeing rude) we were dancing half the way to Piple.
The bus took us too far of course so we had to walk back about 2 km to the health post. Once we reached it we had to walk from there to the nearby village where dr. Hamal and his team went for a health check-up of the locals once a month.
The health post in Piple is govornmental and all the patients can be seen by the doctor and get medication for free – though only the basic treatment done (like for diarrhea, rehydration, common colds, basic infections, smaller wounds, family planning etc). The amount of medication we can bring and give away for free is quite limited and all cases that require more than just basic treatment get reffered to the CMC or another higher medical institution immediately.
The great thing about going to a place like Piple and nearby villages was seeing how many people actually live in Nepal. One can really learn a lot and see many interresting cases staying at a hospital like the CMC, but it should not be forgotten that Nepal is a country of villages where most people lead a very basic life with no luxuries and living mostly off the local agriculture.
Working and the CMC it should be remembered that many of the patients have travelled for days just to reach a hospital where they can get the necessary treatment for their illness. This often results in patients reaching the hospital with deseases being a a way more severe state than what one would ever see in a country with a developed infrastructure.
In just one day the doctor had to 60-70 patients, which leaves the doctor with nothing like nearly enough time to examine and give advice to the patients like he ideally should- for a GP in a developed country 20 patients in one day is a lot. Dr. Hamal does a great and very heroic job, but at the same time extra ressources are obviously helpful at a health post like Piple – even things like sorting out the expired medication, organizing it on the table, finding the right things for the patients and taking vitals are a good help when the doctor is this busy.
