UBC Meets PAHS: The Launch of HealthTrek Nepal

So as you’ve read thus far, we made it to Nepal safely and have been getting acclimatized. I am glad I avoided the math of how long it would take to travel here, because I may have been intimidated and missed out. By the way, it’s 36 hours (…not that I noticed). Mike and Kiley got here one day ahead and led the way once we arrived. We checked out the grocery store, had some fabulous meals and settled in. Now, that sounds very relaxed doesn’t it? Don’t be fooled, if you read about our morning exercise regime you’ll know we don’t just laze about. Thankfully, during our 36 hour journey I didn’t know I was expected to be up early on my first morning in Nepal following a strict “boot camp”.

But the real highlight of our first day here was visiting Patan Hospital and meeting PAHS Faculty and students for the first time. HealthTrek Nepal has officially begun. So we set off.

Five excited UBC medical students began the walk to Patan Hospital, the number 1 hospital in all of Nepal, yet still only has 1 doctor for every 150,000 Nepal residents. Understandably so, we were very eager to meet the people behind the hospital and school that we had heard so much about. The 20-minute walk was an adventure in itself, we got to see some sights and were ready to face the challenge of traversing the roads of Nepal. We had been warned, but certainly didn’t appreciate what the challenge would be. Being a pedestrian in Vancouver does not compare to what pedestrians in Nepal face - the fury of motorbikes, vans, cars dogs, and even cows racing at you in either direction seems similar to the videos I’ve seen of running of the bulls in Spain.

The locals, however, commute with ease and as pedestrians traverse roads seamlessly. Not to worry though, now day 2, I must say we are quicker at crossing streets – one person, usually Mike, takes the lead and decides when it is as reasonable as possible to cross, and as a group, we just go for it.

When we walked through the gates of Patan Hospital we immediately gave a sigh of relief and appreciation that we were there. Our hope was to have a moment or two with Dr Shambhu Upadhya, the Undergraduate Medical Curriculum Coordinator who had been so kind to give us the opportunity to come to PAHS. Dr. Upadhya made space in his incredibly busy schedule for us and received us so warmly that we each felt at home. His energy and enthusiasm for PAHS is contagious. He is at the helm of an intensive selection process of 1800 applicants for the relatively limited space available for the next incoming class – the current class is only 58 students. They are conducting the interview process in just a few days but Dr. Upadhya focused his attention that afternoon to welcoming us and ensuring we were comfortable. Dr. Upadhya took further time made sure to introduce us to Faculty and we had the honour of meeting Dr. Arjun Karki, the Chief of the Department of Medicine at Patan Hospital and Vice Chancellor at PAHS. Again, Dr. Karki made time for us and warmly welcomed us to PAHS and Nepal. Dr. Karki is well-respected and was the trail-blazer who spearheaded PAHS. If you haven’t realized, we were meeting the leaders of Nepal medicine and we were thrilled.

As an added bonus, Dr. Upadhya surprised us by having organized a student meet-and-greet to follow. We were ecstatic – we had thought we would just get to have a few moments with Dr. Upadhya and we were incredibly touched to find out he had planned an entire afternoon for us.

The students were kind and excited to meet us, as we were to meet them. Like their mentors, the students welcomed us warmly, sharing tea and conversation with us, and suddenly, we felt we had friends and family here with us in Nepal. We discussed ideas with the students of how us UBC students could be helpful and how we could work together for a successful summer of projects and activities, including learning and cultural exchanges. Before we knew it, we were making plans to attend the next morning’s Grand Rounds and lectures and left the school more excited than when we arrived, full with tips on local activities to do while we’re here.

We walked confidently back to our guesthouse, dodged the dogs/cars when necessary, and made a list of to dos for the upcoming weeks. We look forward to working more with the students and will let you know what we have in the works. In the famous words of one smiling student ready to participate in the UBC/PAHS exchange, “we’ll make it work.”