Nepal is a country of many mountains, few roads, and subsistence farmers. Health posts in rural areas are often ill-equipped and understaffed, and for the 80% of Nepalis who live on less than $2 per day, a child’s serious injury or disability can debilitate the whole family. So many children just go untreated, literally imprisoned by their disabilities.
Every year, the Hospital and Rehabilitation Center for Disabled Children (HRDC) mends thousands of “broken” children from all over Nepal, boys and girls from poor families who would otherwise face a lifetime of suffering. It’s thanks to the vision of Dr. Ashok Banskota, who felt passionately that his skill could and should help these children, regardless of their ability to pay.
More than 110,000 children have been mended so far and counting.
Surgery is just the beginning. The staff address their young patients’ full spectrum of medical and social needs, and they do it with thoroughness and compassion. Rehabilitation begins with physical therapy and any necessary prosthetics, all crafted in-house. And it doesn’t stop there: HRDC offers community-based services, following up with young patients in their homes, teaching their families how to care for them, and offering programs to encourage social inclusion. Three satellite clinics, partnerships with other hospitals, and mobile camps extend the HRDC’s reach throughout the country, so simple injuries can be treated closer to home.
This has been a very long term assignment I carried out for the American Himalayan Foundation and one I've been quite honored and moved to document. There are no words to describe the incredible work the whole HRDC staff has been doing all over the years. Simply Speechless.
