The Mount Sinai Hospital System in New York City is partnering with Dhulikel Hospital in Nepal through an academic partnership. As an emergency medicine resident I will be traveling there to oversee the start of emergency medicine training and teach local physicians on the use of ultrasounds, including a project to help diagnose pediatric pneumonia with ultrasound.
Dhulikel is a nonprofit, nongovernment hospital that serves a catchment of over 100,000 people. Access to care in Nepal is generally poor and sporadic so people travel from far away communities to seek care. I will be increasing the skills of the staff that work at the hospital thereby allowing them to better serve their patients.
I expect to increase the hospital's ability to diagnose and manage by using ultrasound, a portable and nonradioactive form of imaging that is adaptable to many different disease.
With the help of the Dox Foundation, I spent a month in Dhulikhel, Nepal, a farming community with a hospital that serves a catchment of about 2.5 million people. I primarily spent my time in the Emergency Department, where I learned about the large incidence of pulmonary disease in the community (exacerbated by smoking, pollution, and indoor cooking), devastating strokes at young ages, and saw a large amount of patients who experienced trauma. The emergency department there had far more limited resources than I have at home but we were able to compare management protocols, teach ultrasound skills, and cover other skills sessions like intubations.
One of the special aspects of Dhulikhel Hospital is that it strives to reach its rural community through "outreach" centers, which you can see on the map I attached. These small buildings in rural and hard to reach areas serve as clinics, pharmacies, and 24/7 emergency departments for Nepalis who otherwise would not have any access to care. A picture of inside of the emergency departments without patients is attached.
My last picture is of the beautiful valley and Himalayan mountain ranges I was surrounded with every day. I am very fortunate to have participated in this experience, which will just be one part of a longer relationship between my institution and Dhulikhel hospital, and thank the Dox Foundation for enabling the travel.
