Travel Fund Reports: Nepal

Abstract

Living in a valley, lush and green, 4600-ft. above sea level, filled with paddy fields, surrounded by terraced hill slopes and dominated by an inspiring backcloth of snow-capped Himalayas is a personal experience to be cherished.  Working among a people, poor and poorer yet happy and cheerful, seeing textbook cases of gross, unattended pathology, tropical and “Western” , is a medical experience never to be forgotten.

The valley of Kathmandu in Nepal provides the setting. Until 1951, when the King regained control from the Rama family, a hereditary line of Prime Ministers since since 1846, all Nepalese borders were closed to foreign travellers.  The country maintained a mediaeval lifestyle with a mediaeval medical care.

Since 1951 the influx of foreign influence has been accelerating. Now Kathmandu isa popular tourist stop. The people, however, are caught between the wealth and status of the visitors and their ancestral customs and poverty. Owing to the very rough terrain of the region and the poor communications within the country, most areas outside the city still retain their original life-style and value system.

In 1953, the United Mission to Nepal began a hospital which still exists as the Shanta Bhawan Hospital (Palace of Peace). It caters mainly for the Nepali inhabitants of the area but also extends its foreign residents and tourists.  Charity or credit concessions are available to the poor whilst the rich and foreign patients are over-charged.