By Paula Dhanda | M.D., Medical Director, Worldwide Healing Hands
On September 19, 2013, a second team of Worldwide Healing Hands volunteers traveled to Ilam, Nepal, to continue the midwife and surgical training begun last year. This year the midwife training camp housed and trained a total of 18 midwives, two local Nepali physicians (to perform gynecological surgery), 1 Nepali anesthetist, 1 Nepali intern and 1 intern from the UK - by performing multiple surgeries and examinations with them; in all we visited 960 patients - outpatient as well as emergency - performed 625 ultrasound treatments, successfully performed 25 gynecological surgeries and delivered 4 babies!!
Hundreds of women, some traveling days from all over the region lined up each day for the opportunity to receive medical care from our team. We prepared in advance to train10 midwives and thus carried equipment for that number. However,18 midwives from the eastern region of Nepal traveled to Ilam for training. Many of these midwives traveled for 4-5 days, some of them either carrying their own young infants with them - or leaving them behind - just for the opportunity to attend the training, so we welcomed all eighteen.
With the help of interpreters, our doctors, nurses, midwives, and others, our volunteers worked their utmost to serve the people who arrived in need of medical care. After long days, team members slept in tents on the hospital grounds to be continually close at hand during this mission
Training midwives was the main goal of the mission to Nepal. The midwives who attended left with new knowledge, new skills, many with "clean birthing" kits that allow for safer deliveries, and at least 10 were equipped with the basic supplies that allow them to carry on after our departure - doing their job even better than before, saving lives.
When you save a mother, you save a family. Your donations to Global Giving helped us to buy supplies such as the clean birthing kits, and the equipment that was given to the midwives for use long after the mission was completed.
We plan more medical missions to such remote areas in the near future. You can be proud and we are grateful to the donors at Global Giving.
Photos by Nathen DeHart
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