What we do
The Far Western hills are the poorest and least developed region in Nepal. According to UN Health Statistics, 44% of the population lives below the poverty line. 1 out of every 100 children born in Far Western Nepal will not survive until their fifth birthday. Only 1 of every 4 of pregnant women are assisted during birth by a skilled birth attendant. And the list goes on.
Our mission is to provide quality care in a region where basic healthcare needs are being unmet.
HDCS-TEAM Hospital Dadeldhura is a 45-bed Christian mission hospital in the remote far western hills of Nepal. We are a major health care center for the seven Far West districts (a population of over one million people). The closest referral hospital is 8 hours away, if our patients can afford to go.
Our services
Inpatient care
The acuity of some of the patients cared for on our ward is comparable to patients that would be cared for in ICUs in other parts of the world. It’s not unusual for us to have patients with life threatening blood infections, severe pneumonia, malaria, and serious cases of typhoid all on the ward at the same time. Due to the quality of the care they receive here, most of these patients recover and are able to return to their homes.
Obstetric care
We delivered 1,400 babies here last year, about 250 of those being C-sections. Currently we are the only place in the Far West where a woman can reliably get a C-section.
Surgical care
Although we only have one operating room, in 2009 we performed over 250 major operations, including amputations, hysterectomies, and appendectomies. We are also the major center for the Far Western hilly districts for orthopedic care. Patients with any type of fracture that requires reduction or surgical treatment are referred to our hospital. Burns are also a common problem here as most of the population cook over open fires. Local hospitals throughout the region refer serious burn patients to our site.
Outpatient care
In 2009, we had over 34,000 outpatient visits. In addition to general medical visits, we have a busy prenatal clinic and also provide family planning counseling.
TB and Leprosy treatment
Our hospital has a long history of providing TB and leprosy care. We recently became the first and only center in the Far West to provide treatment for multi-drug resistant TB. Though leprosy is not as great of a public health problem as it once was here, we still diagnose new cases of leprosy each month.
Medical training programs
We are a partner hospital for the Midlevel Practicum, a three month training program focusing on improving the clinical skills of rural health workers. We are also the only hospital in the Far West that will be offering Skilled Birth Attendant (SBA) training, beginning in August 2011. Health care trainees also come to our hospital for on-the-job training – because of our volume and the acuity level of our patients, they are able to gain valuable experience here.
