Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital

The Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, located at the north of the city along the Ring Road, was established in 1986, and describes itself as the "premier teaching hospital of Nepal and is the most coveted tertiary hospital of Nepal." Thanks to international donations, primarily from the Japanese government, the facilites and the faculty were able to get a good start. However, due to the heavy demand for medical services and the lack of ongoing support the hospital has fallen into a state of nominal sanitation and cannot maintain many basic supplies.

The general public come to the hospital in great numbers seeking medical attention, but typically they will have to wait by the hundreds in the crowded hallways outside of the offices for available assistance. The small emergency and operating rooms are far smaller than is sufficient and there are not enough available beds for the demand, so many patients do not receive the treatment they require. In some cases the exposure to the ailments of the other visitors under the unsanitary conditions can be a greater threat, so the patients take their chances at being treated.

The conditions at the facility do appear dire, but it is a great effort by Tribhuvan University and by foreign support that the hospital continues to operate at all. It it not enough, but it is all that is available to many of the people of Nepal. On our tour of the hospital, and once we were able to get past the guard blocking the front entrance, we met the medical volunteer Dr. Thuesson from Utah who was working as the head of emergency care. He showed us around to the different sections of the hospital and explained the way the hospital works. He realized that the hospital could not care for all of the people who came for help, so he helped all that he could.

He described how his staff were unable to acquire the basic supplies necessary, so they had to be resourceful in conserving and reutilizing many items, such as sharing one underarm thermometer among all the patients. There is also space for classroom as a library, but again they are drastically insufficient for the required uses. In the library the textbooks and journals are very much out of date, but the students make the best of what they have. Completion of the medical training for the students only promises employment under adverse conditions and very low compensation. Their drive comes from personal dedication to help their fellow citizens and to do what they can to improve conditions for their country.