March 13

After a breakfast of tea, eggs and roti we headed out to the health post. We took a school bus that Shree had hired to transport us to and from Rupakot. The road is unpaved and very rocky and took about 30 minutes. The doctors were all laughing and saying that the ride made it even more fun. I kept thinking that Disney should have come out here when they were planning the Indiana Jones ride. There were a few times when I was convinced that the bus would tip over, but the driver managed to stay on the road, cross the river (not on a bridge) and deliver us all to the health post.

All of the doctors helped set up the health post and soon we were ready to see our first patient. People began lining up at around 9 am and we opened the gate at 10. Most people were waiting patiently, but as the day went on people became upset and were pushing and shoving to get inside. Suvekshya and Annu Ranjit were set up in the OB/Gyn building and were seeing patients along with doing a study for Annu’s sister Anju, who is studying for her MPH at Johns Hopkins this year. Anju was very instrumental in securing the doctors for the health camp.

Annu and Suvekshya saw around 78 patients on the first day alone and referred 6 to Manipal for prolapse treatment. In all, we saw around 350 patients in the camp today!

In the afternoon I started compiling weights and blood pressures to help speed things along. I learned a lot about the health status of the people by doing this. Most of the women weigh between 47 and 55 kg (103-121 lbs) and many of the elderly were under this weight. I had brought an adult sized blood pressure cuff from home and found out that it was very large for most of the people who we saw. Our friend Tara Gurung was helping to translate and check weights with me.

We closed up shop at around 5 pm and headed back to Sundar Bazaar for the evening. Dinner was the typical Nepali meal of rice and lentils, with some curried veggies and mutton on the side.