Elevate Nepal hosted its second medical camp in March 2024, serving those living in the remote North Gorkha District, and surrounding villages. The camp’s medical team offered a variety of healthcare services to approximately 1,100 patients over the course of four days.
The camp took place from March 1 to 4, 2024, through the collaborative efforts of our partners, Kyimolung Foundation Nepal, Chumanuwri Rural Municipality, and Humanitarian Efforts Reaching Out (HERO). Patients had access to a range of free services including:
- General health examinations
- Dental check-ups
- Gynecology
- Skin exams
- Acupuncture
- Electrocardiography (ECG)
- Ultrasounds
- Delivery services
- Nebulizer treatments
- Eye examinations
All photos by Denise M. Stilley
Bringing Free Healthcare & Education to Nepal’s Most Rural Areas
Gorkha District is a highly remote region in Nepal, leaving villagers with limited access to medical and dental care. For many, it takes several days to walk to the closest available healthcare service. As a result, many camp patients had never seen a healthcare provider or modern medical equipment before.
“This area doesn’t have any institutions with dental health,” said Dr. Karam Tashi, a dentist based in Kathmandu. “I think we can make a little bit of difference with some dental treatment here [at the camp].”
In addition to treating cavities and tooth extractions, Dr. Tashi and his team provided fluoride treatment to 356 school children throughout the duration of the camp.
At another health post across camp, gynecologists aided in the delivery of a new baby boy. OBGYNs Dr. Pratisara Manandhar and Dr. Sidney Callahan also trained six midwives from six different wards in safe delivery practices and equipment including non-pneumatic Anti-Shock Garment, Uterine Balloon Tamponade, and Celox medicated uterine packing.
The team hosted various other public awareness programs, distributed equipment to birthing centers across Chumanuwri Rural Municipality, and delivered packages containing warm hats, blankets, and clothes to around 60 children
An International Collaboration
The camp employed more than 60 local Nepalese people each day.
Camp staff and volunteers traveled two days each way to reach the medical camp from Kathmandu. Most traveled 10 hours by Jeep and the remaining time on foot across steep hills and landslides. The traveling team included 12 American doctors, 8 Nepali doctors, 15 Nepali nurses, and 25 support staff including cooks, translators, crowd attendants, porters, a cleaning crew, photographers, and truck drivers.
“This was so special. The team was amazing and everyone worked so hard,” said Dr. Callahan, who was preparing to take a 36-hour flight back to the United States with the American team soon after returning to Kathmandu.
Elevate Nepal’s first medical camp took place in 2023 after having to postpone for three years due to the pandemic. In addition to providing healthcare services to the underserved people of Gorkha District, the team successfully achieved this year’s goal of increasing the camp’s emphasis on public health education and further training of local health care workers.
