Providing Free Health Services to 10,000 Villagers

The future is unknown to everyone. Aita, a 55-year-old man from Shulikot Rural Municipality Ward-7, a neighboring village of Arupokhari, was brought to the RMF Health Clinic in an unconscious state. When investigating the patient’s history, he was said to have gone to Gorkha Bazar and fallen on the way home. He had been unconscious since his fall.

The family learned that Aita was lying unconscious a couple of hours after the incident. They went to the place, and as there are no health facilities in the area and the nearest hospital is more than an 8-hour walk away, they brought him to the RMF Health Clinic, the only 24-hour health service provider in the area. RMF’s clinic staff also learned that Aita was chronically alcoholic and had sustained an unusual injury on his right leg. It was a very large blister from a burn injury, but Aita was ignorant about the cause and time of the injury, and there was no one who witnessed it.

Upon general assessment of the patient, RMF’s clinic staff found that Aita had very low blood pressure. Immediately, an IV was inserted and 2 pints of normal saline were infused. After the infusion, Aita gained consciousness. Once he was stabilized, the cause of his unconsciousness and the cause of his leg injury still could not be identified. RMF’s clinic staff felt there was a need for blood investigations and other diagnostic interventions, and Aita was referred to the district hospital for further investigations. At the district hospital, Aita’s leg wound was cleaned, debrided, and dressed with medication. Then, he was referred back to the RMF Health Clinic for daily dressing.

After a month of dressing the wound daily and providing counseling about alcohol abuse and his condition, Aita’s wound was healing very well. Above all, it was miraculous when he announced, “I had been drinking badly, so badly that my family misbehaved with me. When all this happened to me and I saw their dedication in my care, I felt guilty. For everyone’s good, I gave up drinking.” His family is grateful to RMF’s clinic staff. Had it not been for the RMF Health Clinic, Aita would not have received immediate care and consistent follow-up treatment, and he could have been dead long ago. Aita is a new man, they say.

RMF’s clinic staff provides free, around-the-clock primary health care services to the people of Arupokhari and its neighboring villages and provides medicines at highly subsidized rates. 2,053 patients visited the RMF Health Clinic from June 2017 to August 2017, averaging 684 patients a month.

Links:

• http://www.realmedicinefoundation.org/our-work/countries/nepal/