July 16, 2007 – Earning My Keep

This morning, I woke up to loud shouting of Nepali over a megaphone. When I poked my head out the window, I saw a government vehicle rolling down the street, loudspeakers blaring. A man was throwing pamphlets out the window. A closer look at a sign on the front of the car read “HERPES”. My grasp of the language is terrible, so it may have been something other than an STD campaign, but it remains an intriguing possibility of a pretty frank method of public health education.

Anyways, today was my first day of official duties, and Chris has been amazing in helping me get used to the work. First, we visited Patan Hospital (one of the best state-run hospitals) to request special Peds/Obs training for our MBBS doctor. We next dropped by the National Center for AIDS and STD Control and spoke with the Deputy Director there. Dr. Pant (who did his MPH at Johns Hopkins) seemed quite optimistic about providing our clinic with both documentation and supplies to help us set up a Prevention of Mother to Child HIV Transmission (PTMCT) program, something both exciting and encouraging.

As part of the “detective work” involved in securing medical resources, Chris and I went to Teku in search of the elusive Dr. Upreti, Chief of Immunization and Health Services in the Dept. of Health Services in Nepal. We had originally believed that he worked for the Ministry of Health, but that search proved fruitless, as the main office informed us he wasn’t under their direct organization. Since UNICEF is one of major provider of vaccines, we then attempted to locate him there, but that was a false lead as well. Finally, after wandering about the government buildings in town, we found his signature on a form in the Child Health Division. A quick meeting with him then provided us with more good news: all the vaccines for the major diseases are already present at the district hospital; we just need to talk to the local District Health Officer to procure them. Mission success!

To end a long day of trekking, we went to check out a big mall in a central plaza—and almost forgot we were in Nepal. The complex looks like a shopping center in the US (complete with glass elevators and AC) albeit a bit smaller. Puma and Nike sneakers cram storefront windows, while Beckham soccer jerseys and Armani slacks hang by the rackful. Young people with Ray Bans and iPods shuffled past in the consumer paradise we Americans know so well. Sometimes you realize what a small world it is.