Surabhi Health Clinic

In 2003 the Women’s Foundation opened the Surabhi Health Clinic in Kathmandu .  The Clinic was founded to provide affordable health care with a particular emphasis on addressing the health needs of women and children who are survivors of violence.

Nepali women face many obstacles in accessing health care resources. Resistance to male health caregivers, cultural norms limiting mobility, expectations that women stay at home with their family and lack of economic means to get to clinics, are but a few of the obstacles to the effective delivery of health care services. These challenges are not restricted to women living in villages, but also confront women in the city.

For a period of time each day the Surabhi Clinic is exclusively available to shelter residents, offering a gynaecologist, child specialist and general doctor who each work two days a week and are assisted by 4 nurses. A pharmacist works at the clinic 6 days a week. After this time it is open to the public who are charged fees dependent on their capacity to pay. The clinic was developed on the same model as the Bipul Shikshya Niketan School as a low cost service to the local community.

The women feel safe at the clinic knowing that the service is confidential and that they are surrounded by women only. This is yet another enterprising initiative and is a practical example of WF’s vision to provide high quality low cost services to women. WF is seeking donations from individuals to support the establishment costs of the clinic and through the anticipated increase in the number of fee-paying customers, it is expected that the clinic will become sustainable along the same lines as the primary school.  

MOBILE HEALTH CLINIC 

In November 2004 WF organised a 12-day Mobile Health Clinic which visited villages in 3 districts in Eastern Nepal ; namely Sunsari, Morang and Jhapa.  The Clinic comprised two dentists from Germany , two local doctors, a pharmacist from WF's pharmacy in Kathmandu and, where possible, a gynaecologist, all of whom worked in a voluntary capacity providing free medical care to the local people.  WF's Pharmacist, Alina Kharel (who was one of the first residents at the shelter and achieved top marks in her Pharmacy degree at Kathmandu University ), organized for medicine to be donated from local drug manufacturers, which was distributed free of charge in accordance with prescriptions issued by the doctors.

The dentists averaged around 50 patients per day, while the doctors averaged 100 patients per day.  Using local people and WF volunteers as translators, the dentists were able to educate each patient about correct cleaning technique, which is crucial to preventing tooth problems.  The Clinic was very successful and WF hopes to be able to arrange additional health camps in the future.

HEART OPERATION A SUCCESS

Early in 2003 the Women's Foundation appealed to supporters for donations to assist a woman who was in need of a heart operation. WF was overwhelmed with support from around the world, raising sufficient funds to cover the costs of the heart operation as well as supporting others who required surgery of a minor nature. The operations were a success and the women have been able to lead a healthy life thanks to the contributions of WF’s many supporters around the world.