Hospital for all

By Pooja Shrestha

CASE 1: Biswanath Yadav. Aged 22 years. He met with a bus accident three years ago while travelling from Rautahat to Kathmandu. With the unavailability of beds at Bir Hospital, he was advised to go to Nepal Orthopedic Hospital (NOH). He stayed there for 11 months taking a thorough treatment and from then onwards he has been travelling off and on for treatment and regular checkups in his crutches. He has not paid a single penny for his treatment apart from his personal expenses.

CASE 2: Dil Bahadur Budachettri is another such patient. Dil Bahadur hails from Sindhuli and has been here at Pharping for some months in search of job. Both he and his wife Savitra were working as daily wage earners (Jyami). One day, while cutting the branches from a tree, he fell off and broke his legs. He went to Bir Hospital but since there were no enough beds to accomodate him, he moved to this hospital. He has been treated in NOH for the last 13 days free of cost except his personal expenses.

Unlike these cases, there are many patients receiving treatment at the NOH. Financially they are a little relieved but they are psychologically as well as socially disturbed, dependent on the family members and close friends and are left high and dry. So, the dramatic increase in high-energy trauma in recent days due to accidents in the roads and factories has resulted in greater demand for quality orthopedic care.

Despite plentiful of its agriculture and natural resources, Nepal is still a poor country where proper health facilities have yet to be developed. Poverty, illiteracy and ignorance are still rampant and expensive treatment bars the majority from availability of the opportunity. It is a country with a strong hold of religious beliefs and superstitions and sufferings are attributed to fate, witchcraft or divine rage. As such, the priority for treatment is given by the village healers (jhankris).

According to the statistics, 22% of newborn babies die during their first weeks of life, 3.5% of children die between the ages of 1 to 5 years. Moreover, hunger and malnutrition are still part of the harsh reality of Nepal. Nepalese have life expectancy of only 58 years and 10% of the population suffers from different handicaps and 23% of them suffer particularly from physical handicaps. The government is still highly dependent on international help for its development programmes.

Disability perhaps can be counted as one of the most serious problems in the existing scenario. Statistics show Nepal to have some 10- 12% cases of disability. In terms of number, it comes to over two million people affected by it, which shows its enormity. Even if only 10% people are disabled, it is said that about 30% of the population is affected by it if the sufferings of the families, dependants and associates of the disabled are considered.

With many hospitals and nursing care centers mushrooming up, Nepal Orthopedic Hospital (NOH) at Jorpati is a unique one. According to Dr. Anil Bdr Shrestha, Medical Director, "NOH has been playing a prominent role in trying to overcome mainly two problems: lack of bed- space in government hospitals and high cost of treatment elsewhere".

Since the official start of the hospital on August 1998, it opened its doors to all offering modern and quality yet, affordable health care. The hospital came into operation by running a free orthopedic camp for five days with free distribution of medicines and appliances. In the year 2000, a new block for physiotherapy, x-ray and laboratory with a new X- Ray machine was added.

Dr Anil Bdr Shrestha got this idea of establishing NOH while working at Bir Hospital. He saw the need of the hospital as the beds were always full and patients had to be sent away either to the private hospitals where they had to spend heavily or to their homes without being treated. Thus the hospital came into being.

It is a project where Rotary Clubs of various countries, individual donors, institutions, friends and well wishers have pooled in their resources to provide comprehensive and standard health care in the field of traumatology, orthropaedics and rehabilitation to the people of Nepal at an affordable cost.

Luc Salens, Board Advisor of Nepal Orthopedic Hospital- Jorpati is one such donor who was recently here for the work. The Nepalese motivated him to help the people in the health sector either through funds or the equipment needed for the hospital.

Dr. Pierre Soete, Belgian Orthopedic surgeon is another example who has now moved into Jorpati for a couple of years to help the hospital as a volunteer. He has also set an example of serving the patients. He has been collecting valuable materials and in a way he is offering his skills and his knowledge for free.

Records of the hospital shows that the highest number of patients came from Kathmandu due to its geographic proximity and at the same time it has been providing services to 53 districts. The patients who are active and mobile (0-30 year age group) are the highest number of those who came in the hospital for definitive treatment of whom were 392 were been admitted, 436 had undergone different types of surgery and 5,712 had received OPD services. It shows an increase by 1% in OPD, in- patient and surgery compared to the year 2000. Male patients predominated in inpatient service, surgery and OPD.

Now the 25 bed hospital, is moving ahead with the future plan of upgrading it to by adding 32 more beds with cabins and single beds to generate funds for those who can afford at the minimum cost- much cheaper compared to the private hospital.

As Dr. Anil rightly points out, "We have not rejected treatment to any patients till now. We need the support from the government, doctors to work at the minimum cost, donors and the patients too."

Anne Frank & her diary

By Karishma Amatya

That teens worldwide think alike is not a secret anymore. No less a teen than the famous Anne Frank too had the familiar traits of a typical adolescent. And this is what I instantly thought about her after going through the globally famous diary entries. And she has become an instant hit with me.

"I want to be useful or give pleasure to people around me who yet don’t know me. I want to go on living even after my death ", wrote a solemn-eyed, self-critical teenager. Born on June 12th, 1929, in Frankfurt, Germany, the literary journey of Anne Frank began in 1942 when she was gifted a diary on her 13th birthday. Anne had risen above the barriers of evil and malice to become one of the most famous people to emerge out of the second World War.

In 1942, when the Nazis invaded their newly adopted country of Holland, Anne found her world systematically constricting .The law forbade Jews from libraries, parks, cinema, and all the other sources of leisure. Denied of all their basic rights, their identity was reduced to a yellow star stitched to their outer garments.

The general perception of Anne Frank is the one of optimism, a faint ray of light amidst a perpetual darkness. But once you directly acquaint yourself with her via her diary, what strikes you the most would be her ruthless honesty regarding her own pessimism. In one early entries, she has written, "I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are still truly good at heart." But her fear is revealed in the passage that follows. "I simply can’t build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery and death. I see the world gradually being turned into a wilderness; I hear the ever approaching thunder, which will destroy us too ......" The optimism of a fearless , innocent young girl suddenly turned into an internal war of rage which coincided with the war outside. When an idea is bottled for too long a time, it overflows with a great passion.

In the year 1942, Otto and Edith Frank, heir two daughters, Margot and Anne, along with Van Pels decided to disappear themselves into the "hidden rooms". A bookcase hid the entrance to the attic in which Anne and her family took refuse for two years. It is in this very attic that the world most of her diary took its form. Though trapped within the four walls of the attic, she had an instrument of freedom in her hands, an instrument that was more powerful than all the barriers that restricted her freedom.

In 1944, when the Franks were captured by the Nazis and sent to the Auschwitz, her diary too accompanied her. It witnessed her suffering and in the year 1945, thinking that her parents had not survived, and having her sister die in her arms, she simply gave up and died of typhus in March in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

One Frank did survive and it was Otto. After the war, a companion of Anne presented him his daughter’s much treasured diary. At fist he had no intention of publishing the diary, but later his friend, a professor, convinced him to publish this diary which was an authentic documentation of the era. After much soul searching, Otto had "Anne Frank: The diary of a young girl" published in 1947. Though he maintained the spirit of her diary, he suppressed some sections of it that he thought were hurtful to others. Missing were the five pages of Anne’s comments on her parents’ marriage. Edith Frank was much in love with her husband, but her love was not reciprocated. It wasn’t in fact a marriage of love. It corresponds directly wit her own sentiments about her friend Peter. After nearly a century, in 1995, the sections of the diary suppressed by Otto were made public.

To date Anne has attracted a battalion of responses in the forms of documentaries, movies, books, biographies etc. In 1955, the diary was adapted as a stage play. Her step sister Eva Schloss later wrote,"Eva’s story: A survivor’s tale by the step-sister of Anne Frank". Couple of year earlier, Natalie Portman portrayed Anne in a Broadway play.

Portman also wrote a documentary on her. As she states, when she first read the diary, what seemed most important was the relationship she had with her father. At the second reading, it was her friendship with Peter. At the third reading, it was her flaws, - vanity, over-excitability and the quickness to fight. At the fourth reading, the thing that struck her the most was her introspection, solitude, perfect self awareness and the sense of

purpose. Indeed the conventional perception of Anne changes with each reading. And the depth she carries intensifies with the increase in the age of the reader. She was an ordinary girl , but an extraordinarily gifted writer.

As a teenager , Anne inspire me to speak out my feelings. The idea portrayed by her are the ideas stored in the chambers of each and every individual’s lost memory. It is the reflection of the thoughts and conventions of a girl entrapped within the boundaries of the four walls. The holocaust, the war, the suffering, the hidden attic were only a backdrop. What stands out is her ingenuity, her ability to pen down exactly what she felt. Her words spoke out and the hours that I spent devouring her diary, I found myself melting into her. Her literal entrapment is such that she automatically allows the reader to become her.

There is almost a spontaneous realisation that it is not abnormal to be caustic towards your parents, to be self-critical. There is an instant message that the feelings of youth, of infatuation, jealousy etc are normal. There comes a time when the halo above us seems to be fading. One line that touched me the most is: "Deep down , the young are lonelier than the old."(15th July, 1944). This definitely betrays our idea of Anne Frank, nevertheless she never fails to symbolise the power of pen.

Sundari Chowk with marvelous water spout

By Razen Manandhar

In the history of the Kathmandu Valley, the middle of the seventeenth century is particularly remembered for this is the apex of the awesome Malla dynasty architecture. All the kings of Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur, spent more time in decirating their palaces and surroundings than paying due attention to safeguard their states from foreign invaders. One among the masterpieces of the period is Sundari Chowk of Patan Durbar Square.

The 355 year old courtyard, with one type of art or another in every inch of its walls, windows, door, roofs of buildings as well as the floor with the water spout on its centre, can be the model of the height of Malla period art and architecture. The credit of this courtyard goes to two art-loving and religious kings of Patan — Siddhi Narasimha Malla and his son Sri Nivas Malla.

Though Patan Durbar Square is the smallest among the three palaces of the valley, it is no less significant in art and architectures. Among all, the beauty of Sundari Chowk is incomparable, which in fact extended the palace itself from the southern side. Some said that King Siddhi Narshimha Malla became so ambitious to have the ‘unearthly’ bath spout constructed that he even shifted an ancient Buddhist monastery to some other places and constructed a totally new courtyard on that place. It was the year 1647 AD.

The courtyard of well-proportioned three-storey quadrangle, an outstanding example of Newari architecture reflects the luxury a royal residents could seek out of indigenous ornamentation.

The intricate door way is decorated with guarding images giant stone lions, Hanuman, Narasimha and Ganesh by the wall.

Though the quadrangle itself is not so big, each and every corner has the power to spell bound any visitor with its unparalleled beauty with the minutest carving. Its interior part particularly beautiful, with, and on the top floor a sacreen gallery that over looks the Tusa hiti, the royal bath.

One can hardly find any structure, which is non-functional there. All the structures bear separate utility in the construction or keeping it intact for centuries. On the ground floor, a series of columns leave a small piece of semi-open area under the building. The wood beams are heavily decorated, so are the doors, windows and struts. But, apart from that, the artists have made the whole quadrangle a big sculpture and with detail carvings, giving each piece of wood and stone shapes of Brahmanical deities, human beings, legendary animals and flowers.

The windows just look like showpieces, hanging on the wall. On the third floor, a series latticed windows or screen-verandah is make continuously on all four sides.

The central part of stone-paved ground is the stone waterspout, which used to be the royal bath in Malla times where the religious kings used to purify themselves, offer water to all the deities before thinking about politics. It was so beautiful that Pratam Malla had a copy of it in his Hanumandhoka palace. The water spout is made of metal in the shape of a cock shell, on which gilt Vishnu sits with his consort Laxmi, about to fly on Garuda, his vehicle. It is guarded by two relief images of elephants below the spout.

The spout valley or pit is surrounded by at over 70 magnificent stone idols of Hindu deities in two series of niches, on its retaining wall as well as on the brink. The whole set of beauties is encircled by a pair of serpents, in the mood of protecting the shrine and pilgrims. Moreover, just above the spout one can find miniature of the famous Krishna Temple.

But having such a marvellous specimen of art and monument of cultural heritage is not enough. For at least seven years, the court has been closed. The section of Department of Archaeology does not even have a clear concept what should be done with the courtyard.

The officers there said that Sundari Chowk is closed because the surrounding buildings are crumbling and is waiting for renovation.

But the truth is that nobody knows when it will be renovated. Out of foreign donation, an extravagant "documentation" was done several years ago that blew up tens of millions of rupees. And the department is waiting that some other donors will come up and renovate the monument for them.

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