pediatrics

This post was written by Melanie Bhatta, RN, a nurse from the United States who is serving at our hospital for a year.    Malnutrition is a significant problem here in Nepal, especially in the rural villages.  Poverty and a lack of knowledge about a balanced diet compound each other to cause long-term health effects, which we see in some of our children at the hospital.  Children are not only not getting enough food to eat, but also the foods they do eat do not provide the proper nutrients that their growing bodies need. In response to this problem, our [...]

This patient story was written up by Dr. Sadichhya, a Nepali MBBS (junior doctor) who has been working at our hospital for over a year. Our junior doctors are a vital part of our team here, and Dr. Sadichhya has been a great asset to our hospital. She has now gone on to pursue further medical training and we wish her the best. Around 11 pm on a cold November night, a young couple came into our emergency room. The wife had been referred from smaller hospital a few hours away from ours. She was 29 weeks pregnant with their [...]

Late in the afternoon, a defeated and weary looking woman walked into the ER carrying a motionless bundle.  In her arms laid her nearly lifeless 14 month old son Deepak (name changed), who had literally been reduced to skin and bones. He had previously been admitted to a hospital in Kathmandu for a brain infection.  Although the infection had been cleared up, Deepak’s nutritional status had reached a critical level.  He had been discharged from the neurologic unit, and his mother was instructed to go seek care for his malnutrition.  Due to financial constraints, she was unable to go to [...]

I saw her lying on a gurney, and I was stopped in my tracks.  Eight years old.  Pleading eyes.  Her distraught mother at her bedside.  Second and third degree burns covering most of the front of her body.  Knowing the suffering and sadness that lay ahead, it was hard to hold it together as I spoke with her mother.  Earlier that day she had fallen into a cooking fire.  Her clothes ignited, and she was severely burned.  They got to us as quickly as they could. We admitted this little girl almost a week ago now.  With burns this severe, [...]