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Third world hospital

Having had the opportunity to spend a short while in a hospital in Nepal I can be sure when I say that if I had become ill whilst out there I would have flown home for treatment. On the day the others on the same placement started they were given a talk by the president of the hospital who mentioned that he hoped that at some point in the not too distant future they would be able to offer surgery for medical tourists. That is, people from other countries would pay to go and be treated there.

Well it only took about an hour for all of us to realise that his plan may have been a little far fetched. The standards were so far behind what is the norm and what we have come to expect in the west that it was a little shocking. All of the doctors in Nepal speak fluent English and have completed their MBBS which is the same medical degree I have from the UK. The Library even contained the same books, though several editions behind what we use here. However hygiene standards and doctor patient consultations allowed for vast improvement. The mixed male/female wards had no curtains between the metal beds and any screens were woefully inadequate, often not shielding the patient at all. Any adjustments to the bed positions were done using bricks and patients appeared to have brought a lot of their own bedding from home. I only very occasionally saw a doctor or nurse wash their hands and gloves were a rarity.

Medical discussions often took place in English and all the medical notes were written in English however I didn't once see a doctor on a ward round take the time to explain to a patient what was happening and include them in any decision making process. If the patient couldn't understand what was going on this would mean they would have no idea what was wrong or how they would be treated. Having said that I also never saw any patient complain. It was what they seemed to expect and they trusted the doctors rather than question them.

The outpatients department was another thing all together. There are no GP's in Nepal so patients go to the hospital for all sorts of ailments. However there also seems to be no queue system in Nepal either. The outpatients rooms often consisted of a doctor and an intern surrounded by patients jostling to be seen next. This of course means that everyone could hear the consultation taking place and see any examination being carried out. So much for privacy!

Perhaps the most shocking thing I saw was when I spent time on the gynaecology ward. A lady had become very sick with an infection. Yet again there was only a screen to shield her from other patients, and I'm sure you can imagine that it wouldn't stretch around the 16 doctors, nurses and students. That's right 16! I counted! So in full view of the gaggle of observers and the rest of the patients on the ward, and anyone who happened to be passing in the corridor the lady was given a gynae examination. However during the examination the consultants mobile phone rang, and she answered it. In this country the situation would probably lead to a court appearance, and quite rightly!

The whole experience made me realise how lucky I am to have trained and to live in the west.

Chitwan Safari

Well on Saturday morning, at stupid oclock (well of course when else would they do anything here), I made my way through Thamel to meet the bus for my journey to Thamel. The journey went smoothly if you forget the long windey and very pot holed road and I arrived at the Maurini Sanctuary Lodge resort in time for a huge lunch. The food was good for a change and my only problem with it was the quantity. The waiter just didn't understand that I cannot eat as much as a big fat man! As I had spent most of the day on the bus there was just enough time left to visit the baby elephant in the afternoon. Soooooo cute have a look.

That evening I met a group who had already been there a day. There were two French, one French Canadian and an English speaking Canadian. I have to say I was impressed that I understood most of the French conversation though they wouldn't even let me try to speak some French which was a little annoying. The English speaking Canadian also seemed a little fed up being left out of the conversation so much and glad for someone new to talk to.

The next morning I got up to go for a canoe ride along the river followed by a safari on foot through the wooded area. It was nice to be out of the city and especially good to be under the trees as it gets incredibly hot in Chitwan I have discovered. On the safari I saw two wild Rhino and a Crocodile, plus loads of birds, butterflies and bugs. The first Rhino was at quite a distance but the second was much closer, he didn't seem particularly happy about us being there so when the guide started to run in the opposite direction, Im sure you will understand that I ran too. Didn't have to go far though for the Rhino to stop following us.

On the way back from the woods we walked via the river and I got the opportunity to go swimming with the elephants whilst they were having a bath. It was great. They are so docile and seem very happy to have humans climbing up onto their backs. The elephant sprayed water all over me several times and rolled over a few times too. However it seemed grateful for the tip afterwards. Yep I had to give the rolled up money to the elephant so it could pass it to its keeper. Very funny. Especially when it dropped it in the water and then had to fish it out.

That afternoon was time to go on the elephant safari. For this I joined a group of Austrian men who were all coming up to retirement and had come to Nepal on holiday without their wives. The elephants used for the safari were huge and we had to use a staircase to get up high enough to get onto their backs. My elephant carried four of us without any problem at all. The safari took us through the woods again so we had to avoid all the branches and spiders webs. We saw Rhino again including a mother and a baby, we were able to get really close this time because the rhino weren't bothered by the elephants. We also saw deer, crocodile, peacocks and lots of spiders... urgh!!

That evening we went to a culture show at the theatre of one of the local villages. It was good fun as they performed several of the traditional dances, many of which included hiting sticks together and one involved a spinning batton with flames lit at each end. Very exciting.

I have loads of pictures to have a nose at.

xxx

One Afternoon Two Temples.

Well it would be very wrong to come to Nepal and stay in Kathmandu without making a visit to a temple or two. I managed to find a very nice taxi driver who took me to the temple called Pashupatinath. I had a guide show me around and tell me all about the place. It is a temple built about 300 years ago on the banks of the Bagmati river which runs through Nepal and into India. It is a very important river to the Hindus as it is where their ashes should be scattered when they pass away. Hence Hindus come from all over Nepal when they are old and sick to stay in the hostels attached to the temple. If they die here the theory goes that their soul goes straight to heaven.

The pashupatinath temple. The group gathered in the foreground

on the steps are unfortunatly attending a funeral.

The temple is therefore a very strange place. There are lots of tourists around but also lots of Hindus who have journeyed to prey there. There are also funerals that take place right in the middle of all the crowds (up to 65 a day), no privacy for the families. It was very sureal to see funerals taking place, with the funeral pyres burning in amongst the tourists and the monkeys that are running around. When the fires go out the ashes are swept straight into the river. You can imagine how dirty the river is. As cows are sacred to the Hindu religion people make offerings of cows to the temple. However no one looks after them. They just roam around the temple, with lots of them wading through the river and ash. Yuk!!

I then went on to my second temple of the day called the Bordnath. This temple is a Buddist temple. It was much cleaner and surounded by shops and park benches to sit on. I had no guide here but the gist is that you have to walk around the Stupa in a clockwise direction. It is thought that it was built in the 14 century and some believe that it coontains a peice of bone that once belonged to the Buddha. I sat down for a while and lost count of the number of times some of the monks walked around the Stupa. I decided to leave when a mini monsoon started and tried to drown me.

A monk making a clockwise circuit around the Bordnath Stupa

There are more pictures from Nepal, have a look.

xxx

Fantastic Weekend

I have to report that despite hating Kathmandu Colette and I had a great time this weekend when we escaped the city and caught a tourist bus up to 'The Last Resort'. It is a small tourist resort North West of Kathmandu by the border of Nepal and Tibet. It was fabulous getting out of Kathmandu and the further away you get the more beautiful the countryside becomes. As it is such a hilly area all the farm land has been landscaped so for a lot of the journey we were on a winding road around hills and steps of corn or cabbages or wheat. Makes you realise how hard all the people here work to make a living/to survive.

A snap shot of The Last Resort

The Last Resort was like an oasis with luxuary tents, lots of trees and some nice food for a change. When we got there we dropped all our things in the tent and then got changed to go for day one of canyoning. Canyoning basically translates as abseiling down waterfalls. I was nervous until I got there however there is no other way of seeing the scenery and it was so much fun there was little time to be nervous. Thankfully I have done a little rock climbing in the past so I was used to trusting my life to a rope and a metal Caribiner. They were really good there though, we had a lesson, a safety talk and the most rediculous combination of a fleece, wetsuit, helmet and leather gloves. On the first day we abseiled 6 waterfalls, the highest being 35m. So much for not liking getting water in my eyes in the shower, I had to get over that pretty quickly. It was worth it though.

The second day we were with a different group of people... the ones mad enough to do it again. Even Colette went ahead despite being scared the first day. Well what can I say. It was amazing!! We had to hike up a mini mountain to get there and when we finally did we all got togged up to look silly again. We then had the choice. Abseil the first waterfall and have to to the next seven or chicken out there and then. It was not possible to turn back! We had a fantastic group of people with us that day and it was great fun with everyone cheering each other on all the way. The highlight though was by far the 60m waterfall. Yes you did read that right 60m!! They told us as we got to it, and remember by then it was too late to turn back so we had to do it. I admit I was a little nervous as I walked backward over the edge of the cliff however by then I think I had got the hang of it and it wasn't scary as I was expecting, just a great feeling that I was capable of doing something like that. Great view too. As I neared the bottom the guide (b-lay) pulled on the rope, pulling me off the wall and leaving me suspended above a huge pool of white water. I admit my first reaction was to scream rather loudly, however that set everyone off laughing. I was quite comical as I slid down the rope half upside down where I had lost my balance! You have to have a look at some of the canyoning photos otherwise I'm sure you will never believe me.

Coming down one of the waterfalls.

That evening there was a music festival at the resort with several band playing from different countries. We all sat around on cushions listening to them and chatting to each other. Just in the groups I had been with there were Australians, a canadian an Israli and some people from the UK. A great mix. There was also a huge BBQ so good food again.

The next morning we all got up and caught the bus to go down to the river to go white water rafting. It was a lot of fun. We went down several rapids over a period of about 3 hours. I have to say though I think I was in the best of the three boats there. We were all in time with the rowing so the raft responded quickly to what we wanted to do. I may have got completely drenched as expected but I didn't fall out. I nearly did on several occasions though.

Have a look at some of the other photos from my trip to Nepal.

xxx