On Saturday April 1, 2023 we organized a free health camp in the Nuwakot district. In advance we purchased lots of medicines from a wholesale pharmacy in Kathmandu. Paracetamol, cough syrups, eye drops, vitamin tablets, salt and mineral solution, antiseptic cream, and much more. We took the boxes to our hotel by rickshaw and loaded them into the jeep two days later for the trip to Nuwakot.

The free health camp took place at Shree Saraswati Secondary School in the village of Newarpani. Early morning we drove to the village with two 4×4 jeeps and a car, which is about three hours from Kathmandu. Four doctors, three nurses and a pharmacist traveled with us. We hired the 4×4 jeeps with drivers, but the owner of the car kindly offered his services and car free of charge for the entire day.

We left Kathmandu at half past six in the morning and after a few hours of travel we arrived in Newarpani at eleven o’clock. Keshap Thapa and his family kindly cooked lunch for everyone, so upon arrival we first had a big plate of dhal bhat. Many people were already waiting in front of the school. The school committee had made a number of classrooms available for our camp. We also rented a local bus to give villagers, who have difficulty walking or live further away an opportunity to visit the health camp.

First everyone was registered with their name and age and then a nurse measured their blood pressure and temperature and wrote down any physical complaints. The villagers could then take a seat in a classroom to wait their turn for a health check with the doctor.

Many people complained of irritated eyes, fever, lung infection and back pain and muscle aches. In some cases the doctor’s advice was to visit a specialist in the hospital in Kathmandu, but whether that actually happens remains to be seen. People live days away from a hospital and often there is not enough finances to pay for this.

The doctors prescribed medicine and vitamins, which they could pick up in the next classroom. The medicines had been pre-sorted and were handed out with appropriate advice from the pharmacists on how to take or use the medicines.

Ram Thapa of the Laxmi Support Foundation is a professional pharmacist and together with the another pharmacist and Sarawati, Ram’s wife, we worked hard to provide all the people with medicines. The medicines were handed out through the open window. Ram had taken a seat in the doorway of the classroom to help people there.

In the meantime, Anneloes and Juliette, the daughters of Alex and Samantha, handed out hats, pens and notebooks to the children, who were present that day. The hats were knitted by Hermiena from the Netherlands, a good friend of Samantha’s mother. The children were very happy with this surprise and luckily we had enough to make everyone happy.

In the afternoon it suddenly started to rain heavily, which is unusual for this time of year. The villagers had to take shelter under the roof of the school. On the way back, the doctors stopped at a number of houses to examine patients who had difficulty walking and had no opportunity to visit our camp.

The doctors, nurses and pharmacists worked very hard to help all the villagers. In total, more than 200 people have received free healthcare that day.

Our project was picked up by two online news channels. View the article here Hamro Health Nepal, and the article of Jalapa News (you can find a translation of the articles here: Facebook).

Special thanks go to two police officers and local volunteers who helped run this day, to the head of the region for permission, to the school committee for making the school available. Finally, a big thank you to all our sponsors for making this wonderful project possible.