News

The day everyone has been waiting for finally arrived on Tuesday 3rd November 2015.

Ann Dingle reports from the Ear Hospital Dedication and Inauguration Ceremony:

It has taken years of dedicated fundraising and many months of hard work, but on Tuesday morning the sun was shining for the opening of the Ear Hospital and Training Centre on the Green pastures compound in Pokhara.

A significant number of dignitaries arrived as well as past and present INF members and visiting well-wishers. They were entertained to speeches from all of the key contributors and dancing from Nepali children. A multi-coloured bougainvillea was ceremonially planted above the inscribed dedication plaques to mark the opening.

The building looks magnificent and solidly built to last. The attention to detail and craftsmanship is evident and both externally and internally it is a fine building (pictures) that has the potential to deliver the highest quality of care for many years to come.

Sadly the container of medical equipment for furbishing the hospital remains in Calcutta, it’s final leg of the journey prevented by the border closure. The non-medical furnishings have been sourced by many trips to the bazaar or built by local craftsmen and the final result is spacious well-equipped rooms.

A large UK and Swiss team arrived for the opening of the hospital and to run the planned autumn camp from the new building. The current border closure resulting from a disagreement relating to the Nepali constitution has caused significant fuel shortages. Road travel has become very difficult – vehicles queue for days for fuel – and people are not willing to travel because of expense and risk of not getting in home for Tihar, the festival at the end of next week. In addition there is no longer cooking fuel available and cooking by wood fire adds to the daily burden of the Nepali family. As a result whilst we are seeing a steady trickle of patients attending the hospital, we are not yet seeing the numbers that we would usually see on a traditional camp. We anticipate that this will increase as the reputation of the hospital grows.

Surgery in the new operating theatre has commenced. The facilities are luxurious compared to the normal environment of camps and the surgical staff are having to get used to the comfortable surroundings. The sound proofed rooms that the audiology department have allows for significantly more accurate testing, even before the arrival of the formal testing booths that are in the container in Calcutta.

There are dedicated rooms for out patient consultation, syringing of ears and pre-operative hair shaves – the usual noise is remarkably reduced.

The three well appointed wards have already been used for males, females and children and there are private rooms for future paying patients.

The opening camp will run until next week and the hospital will then continue to see and operate on patients. There are still a multitude of operational issues that will need considering as the work gets underway, and we hope that the presence of the large team will serve to identify and solve some of these issues for Mike for the months ahead.

You can see a photo album of the day’s events here, a photo tour of the hospital here and learn how the Ear Hospital was built in 60 seconds 

Construction Feb 2014 to Oct 2015 from Ear Aid Nepal on Vimeo.