James Paget — Blog — Health Exchange Nepal

Six months after their original mission, medics from the James Paget University hospitals (JPUH) have returned to Nepal to donate a new ultrasound machine funded by SonoSite and the charity Health Exchange Nepal (HExN).

During their original visit our medics used ultrasound on earthquake survivors to effectively deliver medical procedures and anaesthetic blocks. The medical facilities in Nepal aren’t as advanced as our own here in the UK and so they didn’t have an ultrasound machine themselves, but quickly saw the benefits the equipment offers.

After returning from Nepal in May this year, Kamal Aryal, a native to Nepal and a general surgeon at JPUH, decided he wanted to do more and started looking into getting the Nepalese medics a machine of their own. After months of arranging it is fantastic news that Mr Aryal and his colleague Andreas Brodbeck, an anaesthetist, are out in Nepal right now delivering training on the new machine.

Our medics are also keen on supporting education for children and have been personally fundraising to make sure education continues despite the destruction caused by the earthquake last April. They have visited two villages, Darbung and Arrubas, so far and are pleased to report building work has begun on new schools and methods are in place for bringing in clean water.

Andreas Brodbeck said: “Nepal has been a little forgotten in the media lately but it’s still a country that needs help. Very little has happened apart from the things inhabitants have managed to do themselves”.