Project Summary: Nepal, Sanjiwani Public Health Mission

Year/s: 2011 and 2012

Achievements: In the remote village of Ghandruk in the Kaski district of the Annapurna region there was a great need for an improved medical centre. The only medical service available to this village and the local area is a simple sub-health post providing only the basic facilities. The attendant had rudimentary training and was only able to dispense a small number of very basic medications. Any condition requiring serious medical attention meant that the patient had to walk or be carried 7 hours across rugged terrain, followed by a 45 Km drive to the nearest hospital in Pokhara. 

It is no surprise that there are many stories of people dying before they can receive treatment. After consulting with the Ghandruk village elders and obtaining endorsement from government officials, Bir Singh Gurung, a local Nepalese trekking and expedition leader with World Expeditions, decided that this community of 5872 people would benefit greatly from an improved healthcare facility. Two groups of World Expeditions travellers visited the village to assist in the construction works.

Group 1 arrived in Ghandruk in October 2011 and assisted with the renovation and extension of an existing building. Group 2 arrived in April 2012 to complete the renovation of the medical clinic including repairing the windows, doors, painting the walls, upgrading the furniture and fixtures and building a compound wall.

Impact: The previous medical facility was too small to the extent that they could not keep patients in overnight. The results of the 2 groups that worked at the Sanjiwani Public Health Mission was that the health mission could move to a bigger premises with new and improved conditions for medical care.

Update:

In 2011 and 2012, our Community Project Travel program had two groups of travellers volunteer to help build a better health clinic for the village of Ghandruk. Three years later we returned to see the impact our Community Project Travellers had on the Sanjiwani Public Health Mission.