Ilam, Nepal and its Hospital
Trip Start
Sep 29, 2007
1
12
Trip End
Oct 29, 2007
Ilam,
Nepal
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Its name familiar to we in Grand Island Rotary, we helped finance it,
Travel companion David, as President of Himalayan Health Care, nurtured its birth.
My goal: to see, feel, touch, the accomplishments there, what more must be done?
And so: to Ilam, hill town close to Darjeeling India, same tea and spice economny.
Fly to Bhahrapur, drive three hours into the hills, very steep hills, this is Nepal afterall.
Joined in this trip by George and Vicky Pfohl, doctors from Buffalo,
Coming to Ilam to help with eye surgery and pediatrics.
Himalayan Health Care, the brainchild of Nepali Doctor Anil Parajuli,
With strong local organization, it is not just an outpost of Western 'do-gooders',
Staff in Ilam: three Nepali doctors, several nurses, Western Drs give useful extra training,
Patients and local funding cover 60% of hospital costs.
Each morning, as we scramble down steep hill from farm house where we are hosted,
A line is forming of those needing attention, some just walk in from town a kilometer away,
Others walk, carry the sick, on an all-night trek from more distant hillside villages.
The hospital provides the only care for a huge district of rugged hill communities.
So the hospital seems successful, on the verge of self-sufficiency.
Ilam is a somewhat successful corner of Nepal: tea, cardamon give useful income.
Even small farms can give hard workers more than subsistance, milk and produce to sell.
But if hospital charged more, would its promise of care for all evaporate?
Local craft people, organized by Spiral Foundation, make saleable goods,
Sold in the West, profits split between workers and hospital, similar to a Vietnam program,
So hospital seems successful, on the verge of self-sufficiency,
Can more such programs truly make the hospital stand on two solid Nepali feet?
Tea, cardamon merchants, tradesmen, all with some success,
Can they and hospital staff join to find the path to true hospital self sufficiency?
As in all Nepali paths, the way is hard, winding, steep and full of surprises,
But they must find the way, perhaps with Western help, but not Western decrees.
Leaving Ilam, it is a long drive back down to plane for Kathmandu.
Then three hour drive became five hours, as political roadblock became intractable.
Nepali people have not resolved Maoist versus representative government issues,
But at least they are talking (sometimes shouting), not bomb throwing.
A country with limited resources, government squabbles sap even those resources.
Even successful Ilam suffers: Maoists tear down staue of king in town square,
What had been impressive town square, is now centered by gaping hole.
Weeds, garbage are focus now, where perhaps a statue honoring tea workers could stand.
Nepal, a country of smiling, hard working, people and stunning vistas.
Those vertical vistas make hydropower seem a natural to an engineer,
Will Nepal become a shining example of green power in the future?
I will need to return to Nepal in coming years, hoping to see that progress.
