Work In a Local Medical/Healthcare Project in Nepal

Project At A Glance

Location: Kathmandu, Chitwan Start/End point: Kathmandu Duration: 2-12 weeks Hours: 30-40 hours per week Food: Local meals (3 times a day) Room: Host family or homebase Date: First and Third Monday of each month

Project Summary

Nepal's health care system is very resource poor and there is obvious lack of manpower and resources. Rural community facilities, which are located in the outer city areas and villages, urgently need volunteers and assistance. Medical volunteers in Nepal work in these rural health posts and community clinics. Volunteers mainly support a main doctor and work as an assistant. Volunteer placements vary with education, skill and experience.

Skills/Qualifications Needed

Applicants interested in joining our volunteer health program must possess healthcare certification, such as an ID as a medical student, EMT, paramedic certification, nursing or physician's credentials. We do not permit volunteers without medical credentials to work in this program due to the potential risk. The projects require a copy of volunteers’ resumes, clearly documenting credentials and education, before arrival at the project. Projects will also require an official copy of credentials.

Volunteer Responsibilities

Job responsibilities for Nepal medical/healthcare volunteers vary with education, skill, experience and qualifications. Volunteers are not allowed to perform the major operations or surgeries, due to liabilities. Often volunteers help doctors or work as an assistant to doctors. Volunteers often take vital statistics: measure blood pressure, temperature, height and weight. Volunteers assist doctors and medical staff with health center duties and tasks. Volunteers may also help with health camps, distribute medicines, provide tips to patients on health, nutrition and sanitation and counseling patients and involve yourself in the treatment for minor injuries or wounds and keeping patient records.

Room/Food/Supervision

IFRE manages living accommodations, meals and supervision for volunteers throughout their stay in Nepal. Most volunteers placed in Kathmandu projects stay at our home base – a permanent home set aside for international volunteers and manned with a local staff. Our safe and secure Kathmandu home base is located in a beautiful area of Kalanki, nearly 5 km away from Thamel, a popular tourist hub of Nepal. Most of our volunteers’ projects are located within 2-5 miles of the home base. Therefore, volunteers can simply walk to their projects or take a local taxi or bus. Most necessary services for travelers are located within 2 km of the home base: internet cafés, restaurants and grocery stores. Our home base is located in the heart of city and provides easy access to volunteer to all parts of Kathmandu. It is a perfect situation for volunteers to live safely and comfortably while making many new friends and sharing experiences every day. In the evening volunteers return to the home base, to relax, eat dinner, explore local areas or share the day’s experiences with fellow volunteers and staff. Our home base provides a same-gender shared room and shared bathroom with running hot water and a “western” style toilet. Volunteers will have the ability to do laundry at the home base.

Volunteers receive three prepared meals per day. Our cooks prepare breakfasts, lunches and dinners of Nepali foods (similar to Indian food, including wheat bread, rice, curry, dahl, chapatti and pickles) for volunteers. If volunteers will be out of the house during lunch hour, they can request a lunch "to go”. If traditional Nepali fare does not appeal to volunteers, they are welcome to buy personal food and prepare it.

Occasionally, depending on volunteer traffic, available projects or distance to a volunteer’s assigned project, we may also place our volunteers with carefully pre-screened host families. Our host families are socially respected and are experienced with hosting international volunteers. They have strong interest in our volunteers’ safety and well-being and demonstrate this with caution and care. In most host family situations, volunteers will share a room with another volunteer of the same gender. Another viable option is an at-orphanage stay. Many orphanages in Kathmandu have special rooms set aside to house international volunteers. Volunteers who have stayed with a host family or at an orphanage describe an enriched experience because of having done so. Once you have applied for program placement, you will find the specific details of your accommodations in your personal placement documents for your project.

IFRE maintains two offices in Kathmandu and Chitwan to supervise and assist volunteers. However, volunteers working in Pokhara will stay in touch with Kathmandu office by telephone or email and will receive staff visits as often as possible, usually every two weeks.