Bibek Aryal and Suman Raj Adhikari introduce the Nepal Medical College Red Cross Youth Circle and the hard work it is doing to promote healthcare in Nepal.

Nepal Medical College Red Cross Youth Circle (NMCRCYC) is an autonomous medical student body, located in Nepal Medical College (NMC), in the outskirts of the Kathmandu city in Nepal and established in 2006. The Nepal Red Cross Society, whose principles the circle abides by, is the umbrella organization of all similar Red Cross Youth Circles in Nepal. The slogan of NMCRCYC is “I Serve.” It is a non-profit, non- political and a purely social, philanthropic organ of Nepal Medical College and it has been able to provide a platform for selfless volunteer service to the students of NMC. By running various programs like blood donation, flood-relief service, and health camps, to name a few, it has been able to carve a niche for itself among the Red Cross Youth Circles of Nepal. Its efforts have been instrumental in increasing health awareness and activities in communities located in the vicinity of NMC and beyond.

NMCRCYC came into action with the universal slogan of youth red cross, “I serve”. NMCRCYC is now an effective and fully functional organization with over 300 members all of whom are medical students in the college.

The college principal inaugurating the NMCRCYC board

NMCRCYC, being an organization composed of medical students is primarily concerned with health-related activities. The objectives and goals of the organization are as follows:

1. Run blood donation programmes and incorporating them directly into the national blood drive programme.

2. Emergency Blood On Demand (EBOD) programme (which has been further elaborated below).

3. Run free health camps as a means to provide access to health care to the needy.

4. School speaking program: A public speaking programs in schools of rural areas. About a week before the program, students are given a pool of topics to prepare on and some observer and judges including the members of NMCRCYC are present to evaluate the students’ speech. At the end of the program, the facts and views presented by the students are corrected, suggested and commended by the observers. Awards are also given away to encourage the students. During these programs, the parents and other people from the locality gather in the school premises to attend. Thus, this program acts as a awareness campaigns in rural areas.

5. Disaster preparedness and relief programmes.

6. Poor-patient fund collection in order to provide them with free treatment for those who cannot afford the hospital charges.

7. Exploring training opportunities like first aid training.

8. Set up links with non-government organizations (NGOs) and International NGOs (INGOs) , and work in partnership with them in national health programmes.

Emergency Blood On Demand

“Your blood is replaceable, life is not” was the slogan used for 1st first blood donation programme organized by NMCRCYC. The 100 pints of blood collected during the program was handed over to the Red Cross Blood Bank, Kathmandu (daily requirement of the blood bank is 600 pints). At the same time, NMCRCYC has set up an Emergency Blood On Demand programme (EBOD) in which the relevant data of active members of RCYC who are willing to donate blood in case of an emergency has been recorded. In the event of an emergency and in some unlikely conditions – such as when compatible blood is not available in the bank – the pathology department do contact NMCRCYC, and the matching person is called to the spot to donate the blood. This was proved very effective to the hospital in running routine surgeries despite of the blood shortage in the bank and thus the program has been highly appreciated by the pathology department of Nepal medical college and teaching hospital (NMCTH).

At the same time, as per need, volunteers of NMCRCYC have donated blood for hospitals other than NMCTH in the Kathmandu city. The Red Cross Society itself praised the blood drive and the EBOD programme. We are now extending the EBOD programme and are also including the staff of NMCTH, who are interested in donating blood together. We expect to widen our EBOD programme to more than 400 emergency blood donor members by the end of 2009.

Free Health Camps

A total of 300 patients were provided with free health care with 90 cases referred for free treatment to Nepal Medical College Teaching Hospital. Two hundred children from the local area were wormed during the Free Health Camp organized at Chapagaon, a remote village devoid of modern healthcare facilities. The Health Camp was influential in exposing the students to real life conditions of Nepalese villages. General Medicine, Gynaecology and Obstetrics, E.N.T, Paediatrics and Ophthalmology OPD clinic were carried out with intern doctors, house officers and Dr. Muni Raj Chhetri (Chief Advisor of NMCRCYC).

After the health camp, more than 80 referred cases were attended by the NMCTH itself. During the health camp, general education and awareness programs on issues related to topics such as nutrition, family planning, personal hygiene, and primary health care and such like were conducted at a local school. Educational material and first aid medications were also distributed during the program. The program was very successful in that it catered to the pressing health problems of many people in the community. Additionally, the program encouraged the students to be involved in community health projects. As a consequence, many students actively participated in similar camps organized by other non-profit organisations in various places.

Patients in the free health camp

Poor Patients’ Fund

Many people in Nepal are too impoverished to afford basic health care facilities. The majority live in remote hilly villages where there is limited or no access to health services. A large number of people are unable to seek expert advice and service due to economic and social difficulties. Uterine prolapse is an urgent example of many women having to suffer from medical complications arising from the inability to afford health services. At present, according to the WHO, UNFPA and TU Teaching Hospital, 600,000 women are affected by the disease in Nepal and among them, 200,000 require immediate treatment. To address these kinds of issues, NMCRCYC started a Poor Patients’ Fund in April 2007. Many OPD cases as well as in-patient cases have been referred for free service including, but not limited to, surgery, investigations, and bed charges since the establishment of this fund. As a direct result, many patients unable to afford such services were able to receive care thanks to this fund.

The fund, however is not a proper fund per se. NMCRCYC hasn’t found any source of funding so far, so an arrangement has been made with NMC Teaching Hospital administrative body to provide free services to the patients referred by NMCRCYC. To provide for the expenses of the medications, NMCRCYC has organized some charity movie shows in at the college premises. The fund collected from one of these shows was donated towards the treatment of a leukaemia patient.

Disaster Relief Program

Many parts of Nepal are affected by several natural disasters each year. The eastern and western plains (also called Terai) are often hit by catastrophic floods. For the last three years, NMCRCYC has actively participated in collecting and providing relief material to the people affected by such floods. NMCRCYC coordinates the voluntary donation of cash and relief material in cash and in kind (clothes, food material, money, etc) from the students and staffs of NMC. The donations are then delivered and handed over to the people of disaster affected areas by the Red Cross District Chapter of Kathmandu.

Flood victim relief material being handed over to secretary of the Red Cross Kathmandu Chapter

Collaboration with Other Organizations

In order to coordinate health services to a larger population, we thought it necessary to work in partnership with several NGOs and INGOs doing similar works in Nepal. We at NMCRCYC have formed an outreach committee to facilitate the communication and partnerships with such organizations. So far, we have reached an understanding with “World Friendship Nepal” (WFN), an organization working for women’s health issues. We have jointly organized a “One-day Free Health Camp” during Shivaratri, an important Hindu festival attended by devotees from all of South Asia. The outreach committee is also working to co-ordinate with groups working on child health matters.

We are also co-ordinating with other Red Cross groups to undertake various works projects. In the coming year, NMCRCYC is planning to organize training programs on “Advanced First Aid” for the students of the college. This program will be supported by Nepal Red Cross Society, Kathmandu District Chapter. The Chapter will provide experts for the training.

Throughout its history, a significant amount of Red Cross activities in Nepal have been carried out by students and youth volunteers (Junior and Youth Red Cross Circles organized at schools, campuses and communities). Today, the participation of the youths with in the Red Cross has become more important than ever and this fact which has lately been acknowledged by the Red Cross Society itself. NMCRCYC is always working with the principals of the Red Cross as its guiding motto. We believe that the noble spirit of service and volunteering needs to be preserved and promoted especially among the students and youths at every level. The feeling of responsibility and benevolence towards people less privileged than oneself needs to be inculcated among the future experts, policy makers and leaders of the country. While being indispensable for the progress of third world, this culture of social service can be a very important means of using the technical and academic expertise for the benefit of fellow citizens, especially in developing countries like ours. In the long term, such works can contribute towards the creation of just, fair and prosperous societies.

Bibek Aryal and Suman Raj Adhikari are the President and Vice-President of the NMCRCYC

coolbibek@hotmail.com

By Request of the Authors: Any anyone wanting to join or assist the organisation would be most welcome. Volunteers should contact the above e-mail address. Thank you.

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