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Dr Jagat Chhetri is the general physician at the Himalayan Healing Centre Clinic. He is a caring doctor and dedicated to helping the poor people of Nepal. He received his MBBS from I.O.M. Tribhuvan University in Nepal. Who are using the facilities of the Clinic? The Clinic asks such a small fee and offers services free of charge to those who cannot afford it - so obviously the Clinic is used by the poorest people in the area. Most of them work as labourers in factories and are very poor, often they are also undernourished which makes them very susceptible to many diseases. What are the most common health problems that you come across? A lot of children have problems such as chest infections and pneumonia, chronic ear infections, but skin diseases such as scabies and ringworm are very common, as is malnutrition. I have also seen youngsters with TB and congenital heart diseases... In older people I see a lot of chronic bronchitis and emphysema, asthma, TB, as well as gastritis that leads to duodenal or gastric ulcers. I also have my fair share of accident and trauma victims. Some of the conditions that you mention are very serious, how do you treat them? We have very simple lab facilities here for carrying out blood, stool and urine tests. For x-rays and in-depth investigations I have to send the patient to hospital. Hospitals charge for their services and treatment, which means many people with curable health problems die because they cannot afford to pay, others suffer needlessly. For example, a 3 year old boy was brought to me recently who had been hit by a motorcycle. It was Help in Action staff who had insisted that he was brought for a check-up. He did not suffer serious injuries due to the accident, but when I checked him I discovered that he had a heart problem. I sent him to the Children’s Hospital to have an EKG and other tests but unfortunately he died 3 days later of heart failure. His parents had not sought medical care before because of the cost. What can be done to improve the facilities of the Clinic to help these people? We need equipment such as an x-ray machine, a cardio-pulmonary resuscitation set, a portable ultrasound machine... but simple things such as a stretcher, diagnostic set and even visual aids for health care are also useful. The Clinic helps a lot of people but there are many more who are in need of operations but cannot pay for consultations and surgery. For this reason, we have decided to start the Emergency Fund so that the necessary financial aid can be offered to those people who may die if their disease goes untreated. |
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