Nepali Times

For seven years now the Nick Simons Institute has worked to provide quality health care to Nepalis especially in rural areas. The institute has devised effective training programs to this effect. But the most impressive aspect of the NSI approach has been to consider whether these training programs have a long term impact on government policies. This consideration is key because simply carrying out training programs without follow- up does not yield effective results.

Few organisations can boast of providing the sort of training that NSI offers. In total, NSI has five areas of training.

Anesthesia Assistant Course (AAC) is a one-year international course for nurses and health assistants. There are still no anesthesia doctors in 60 of our district hospitals. Nine people have passed the course and 14 are currently studying to fill this gap in the districts.

Similarly, the Biomedical Equipment Technician (BMET) is a one- year course that trains college graduates to maintain and repair hospital equipments. Twenty participants are being trained this year. This is amost useful training in the case of Nepal where majority of the hospitals have equipments stored away because of lack of simple repair job.

The Skilled Birth Attendant training (SBA) is a 4-10 weeks training for nurses, midwives and doctors to conduct deliveries including those with complications. So far the NSI has provided this training to 173 candidates. The government of Nepal’s National Health Training Center has requested an expansion of this program. A 3- month course of ultrasound training for government doctors to do basic diagnostic is also available. The simple ultrasound examination has revolutionised diagnostic capabilities.

Finally the Mid-Level Practicum( MLP) training which is a three- month clinical-based course, upgrades the skills of government mid- level workers ( health assistants and auxiliary health care workers). These workers form the backbone of the rural health care team, but are often left languishing in rural areas because of lack of refreshment courses. In the next 7 years we hope NSI moves from strength to strength so that many more Nepalis in rural Nepal will benefit from their programs.

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