By Bruce Moore | Field Director
Keman is from a remote village in the eastern part of Nepal. In most rural areas like his, specialized healthcare just isn’t available. To reach these geographically isolated regions, the Hospital and Rehabilitation Center for Disabled Children (HRDC) has started mobile camps, bringing the hospital to them. These camps help HRDC find new patients in need of treatment and continue rehabilitation for children who have already received transformative surgery. Keman’s story is an excellent example of why these mobile camps are so important.
As a child, Keman developed an abnormal hunch in his shoulder that gradually increased in size as he got older. His parents were very worried, but they had no resources and no idea how to get him treatment. It wasn’t until he was 14 years old that his mother, Debika, happened to hear a radio jingle about HRDC’s upcoming mobile camp at the Kiktel District Hospital. She eagerly brought him to the camp, where he was diagnosed with left-sided kyphoscoliosis (a musculoskeletal disorder that causes abnormal curvature of the spine).
The camp team encouraged Keman’s mother to bring him to the HRDC main hospital in Kathmandu for further evaluation. Keman’s parents were overjoyed, and four months later he had a successful surgery to correct his condition. Only 27 days after surgery, he was able to walk without complication! He was given a special brace to speed up recovery and his parents were taught all of the exercises he would need to continue at home.
When Keman and his family went back for a follow up two months later, his parents expressed their deep gratitude to HRDC for how profoundly they had changed his life. Before surgery, they felt that life would have been impossible in their village, due to stigma surrounding disability and bullying he had faced. But his treatment changed the perception of villagers and schoolmates, allowing Keman to be easily accepted in their community for the first time.
These mobile camps are a growing and vital aspect of HRDC’s healthcare outreach. This past year (2017) HRDC’s mobile camps reached 38 districts across Nepal and over 5,000 children. These teams of doctors and health workers have helped bridge the distance between rural communities and modern healthcare, and are changing the lives and futures of many Nepali children and their families.
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