Advertisements are currently being placed for the new Patan Academy of Health Science (PAHS) medical school – we should be starting classes in May.
We are planning a one-week orientation for the new students, to introduce them to the mission and goals of the school and to begin the process of inspiring an attitude of service, compassion and enthusiasm for rural healthcare.
As part of this, the administration wanted to invite a member of the community to come and talk to the students about what the community expects of its doctors.
Friendship I thought that our pastor’s wife, Goma, would be the ideal person to undertake this task. Goma works in our church’s ‘Friendship Service’ (‘Saathi Sewa’) for patients from remote rural areas who need specialised medical care in Kathmandu.
She and her team meet people from the bus or airport and bring them back to our church compound where they can stay and we provide food.
Goma then goes with them to the right hospital, makes sure they see the right doctor and acts as their advocate as they enter the confusing world of big city medicine.
They also provide love, emotional support and practical care whilst in hospital or waiting for test results.
Goma is a gifted public speaker, who often preaches in our church – very unusual for a Nepali woman. Her husband has been in a wheelchair for the last 25 years, so she knows first-hand about difficult medical problems.
She has also adopted numerous children who have been abandoned by their family once they discover their child cannot be cured.
Doctors of tomorrow I arranged for Goma to meet up with Arjun, the Vice Chancellor of PAHS, to discuss her participation in the orientation week. She did a brilliant job of talking to him and presenting the patients’ perspective.
Arjun was most impressed. I’m hoping that I will also be allowed to send medical students to Saathi Sewa on a regular basis, just to talk to the people waiting there and listen to their story.
Our church people were really enthusiastic at this opportunity to impact the doctors of tomorrow, and PAHS is happy to have a group to work with who epitomise service and compassion.
Please pray that this relationship works out well and that the students really will take on board the message we are trying to put across.
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