Shechen Clinic For years, the Sata Foundation has been supporting the Shechen Clinic for the poor in Nepal. The following is information provided by the administrators of the Clinic and by the Clinic's own website: http://karuna-shechen.org/ Nepal has a poorly developed infrastructure that makes health care for its people virtually unavailable. For the last 10 years, the Maoist insurgents have destroyed the already fragile government infrastructure and widespread poverty is increasing. The decline of tourism, the only national industry, has generated an exodus from the villages towards the comparative safety of the capital, Kathmandu creating overcrowding and disease. There are no government programmes available to alleviate this suffering and private humanitarian aid, such as that offered by the Shechen Clinic, is essential. The Shechen Medical Clinic was inaugurated in October 2000 in Baudhanath, an overcrowded suburb of Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. The Clinic provides quality medical care, regardless of religious, ethnic or political background, to the large community that includes refugees and other people from the mountain regions. Services are provided on a sliding scale cost bases and, in the case of very poor patients, all medical care and medicines are provided at no cost. The Clinic treats over 3,500 patients a month. The services provided include: general medicine, pharmacy, analysis laboratory, tuberculosis (D.O.T.), orthopedic, reproductive health, counseling for HIV and AIDS patients and their family; homeopathy, Tibetan medicine, Tibetan medicine factory, acupuncture, dental clinic, and dental laboratory. The Clinic thus offers various healing modalities. In addition to allopathic medicine and dental care, it provides traditional Tibetan medicine and alternative therapies such as homeopathy and acupuncture. The medical staff includes four Nepali family doctors, a physician specializing in Tibetan Medicine, a woman gynecologist, a homeopathic Nepali doctor, trained nurses, a laboratory technician, and visiting foreign doctors and therapists. There is a laboratory for blood, urine and stool analysis and free HIV testing, as well as a pharmacy and tuberculosis services. Construction will soon begin for an additional building that will include a small surgery, AIDS clinic and hospice. The Clinic is largely supported by private and foundation donations, like the Sata Foundation. Family Planning Center There is an urgent need for in-depth family planning in Nepal. Nepal's population has tripled during the last forty years creating a crisis of survival. The mortality rate at birth for mother and child, and during a child's first years is the second highest in the world. Therefore, family health education is one of Shechen Clinic's major concerns. The Family Planning and Women's Reproductive Health Center occupies a wing in the Shechen Clinic and treats about 300 - 350 people per month with a seventy-five percent return rate. This number is expected to increase to 800 patients a month once the facilities are expanded. The Center serves the poorest of women and offers them authorized and specialized consultations, which are practically non-existent for poor families in Nepal. They are provided with contraception and counseling for women on abuse problems, on child care and malnutrition, on STDs and HIV. Dental Clinic The Dental Clinic uses the most modern equipment and skilled dentists to provide dental care for those who would otherwise not be able to afford it. There are two fully qualified dentists and assistants and a prosthesis specialist on staff. Visiting foreign dentists work at the Clinic on a volunteer basis. India In Bihar, India, the poorest state in India, medical help is not available in the outer regions of the state where most of the people are impoverished or destitute. The Shechen Clinic operates a mobile clinic in this area to reach this diverse community of Hindus, Buddhists and "untouchables." The Mobile Clinic operates from its headquarters in Bodhgaya and is equipped with a simple laboratory for immediate analysis. It makes regular stops at locations throughout the surrounding area of Bihar providing free health services. Many infant and childhood diseases can be treated through the clinic and the infirm and poor with no means of transportation are able to consult a physician. The staff gives instruction on sanitation and preventative care. Plans are underway to also construct a permanent allopathic clinic. The Shechen Clinic welcomes the participation of medically qualified volunteers - physicians, nurses or others - who want to work in the Clinic, even for a brief period of time. Contributions in the form of funds, medicines and supplies are urgently needed. If you can help, please contact smk@mos.com.nporshechen@sprynet.com Click here to close this window