MMN June Mag 2026 Online - Flipbook - Page 21
dinner that evening which really set
the tone for this elec琀椀ve and shed
light on the kindness and hospitality I was to be shown throughout
my 琀椀me in Nepal.
Work at the Hospital
Life on the wards began quickly. OCH is a small primary care
hospital that currently has a
50-bed inpa琀椀ent capacity, and
sta昀昀 are mostly Nepali na琀椀onals
with several Chris琀椀an expatriate
doctors suppor琀椀ng the work. Approximately one-quarter of hospital
sta昀昀 are professing Chris琀椀ans. During this period I worked par琀椀cularly
alongside the medical o昀케cers, who
are the equivalent of resident doctors in the UK. I formed some great
rela琀椀onships with the sta昀昀 during
my 琀椀me at OCH, who were all very
welcoming and keen to teach me at
every opportunity. Most pa琀椀ents
spoke only Nepali or their local language; this made integra琀椀ng fully
into hospital working life di昀케cult
and I relied heavily on Nepali sta昀昀
to communicate with pa琀椀ents.
However, the hospital operates in
English, so my understanding of
pa琀椀ents’ condi琀椀ons was thankfully
not held back too much!
Most of my 琀椀me was spent shadowing medical sta昀昀, although as
my experience grew, I was able to
partake in supervised tasks such
as examining pa琀椀ents, interpreting inves琀椀ga琀椀ons, and pu琀�ng
forward a management plan. Prac琀椀cally, some of the highlights of
this experience were assis琀椀ng with
the delivery of several newborn
babies; it was so special to see new
life being brought into the world!
I was also able to assist in a number of surgical procedures such as
an abscess removal, debridement,
appendicectomy and a skin gra昀琀:
a great opportunity to prac琀椀ce my
(rather lacking) suturing skills! A
deeply moving experience for me
was heading up into the local villages with the community physiotherapy team and seeing the
long-las琀椀ng e昀昀ects of spinal cord
and trauma琀椀c brain injuries. This
gave another glimpse into the daily
struggles of life and the everyday
coping required to manage chronic
disease. I rotated through each of
the hospital departments including
medicine, surgery, obstetrics and
paediatrics which provided me with
a very general, well-balanced and
extremely ful昀椀lling 琀椀me at OCH.
A few things that stood out prac琀椀cing medicine in a resource-poor
se琀�ng was the reduced access to
medical imaging we take for granted in the NHS. The hospital relies
heavily on history and clinical examina琀椀on 昀椀ndings, with an X-ray
machine available if needed. Unfortunately, there is no CT scanner,
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