Health & Fitness
Physicians at Stanford Bringing Medical Care to Nepal
Stanford Emergency Department physicians help implement Nepal's first 911 emergency medical response system
When not attending to the medical emergencies of Palo Altans, physicians at Stanford Emergency Medicine International (SEMI) work to provide emergency medical services (EMS) in developing countries where access to such care has been absent. Much of the developing world lacks the infrastructure and formal training required to provide the pre-hospital and hospital emergency medical services that we take for granted. SEMI has strategically implemented several projects worldwide to rectify this absence in basic health care. One of the recent projects they have worked on is Nepal Ambulance Service (NAS).
NAS is an NGO based in Kathmandu that is dedicated to developing the nation’s first comprehensive pre-hospital EMS system. Services launched on April 14th, and NAS EMTs have already responded to more than 150 medical emergencies. NAS serves a population of 4 million in the Kathmandu Valley and aims to expand nationwide within 10 years.
In the coming weeks, I will chronicle the development the project, including the many challenges we encounter as well as the successes we enjoy. Both the context of Kathmandu and the fact that NAS is still in the infancy of operation continue to make work at NAS exciting and challenging.
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Last summer and fall, 18 physician instructors and two undergraduates from SEMI designed and led the country’s first formal emergency medical technician (EMT) training program, a 12-week course training 50 Nepali students in basic life support. Graduates from this program now operate ambulances fully equipped with life-saving medications and medical equipment as the country’s first EMTs. EMS services provided by NAS also include the country’s first three-digit toll-free emergency medical hotline (102) staffed by trained emergency medical dispatchers.
Stay tuned during this exciting time as NAS delivers the nations first EMS system. For more information on SEMI and NAS please follow these links:
