Electives In Nepal

Our partnerships in Kathmandu allow you to get experience in a range of dedicated, highly specialised institutions. You’ll also have the chance to accompany nursing teams on an outreach programme that operates in the city itself and in the surrounding areas. What’s more, some of the most respected professionals in the capital work in the departments of our main partner hospitals. This will allow you to draw on their experience and expertise throughout this eye-opening placement. Please note that we cater to all branches of nursing.

In Kathmandu, you can get experience in departments like A&E, surgery, and paediatrics among others. You’ll encounter patients with unfamiliar conditions like Japanese encephalitis, malnutrition, even the odd monkey bite. General medicine is fascinating in Kathmandu — some estimates suggest 70% of all conditions are attributable to infectious disease. This includes malnutrition, which is often the result of intestinal parasitic infection. Kathmandu also has particularly interesting options if you want to specialise — dermatology, psychiatry, ophthalmology and cardiothoracics are all available. If you want to undertake a medical elective in Nepal, you should add Kathmandu to your list.

In Kathmandu, we’ve partnered with a specialised maternity and women’s hospital. We’ll place you alongside a team of local specialists who are expert at delivering babies in this low-resource clinical setting. Other services the hospital offers are comprehensive — labour wards, postnatal wards, post-op wards, infertility services…. You can gain experience in all of these. Bring enthusiasm when learning about midwifery in Kathmandu, and you’ll have an incredible experience as a result.

Dentistry in Nepal hasn’t advanced as far as it has in countries with greater resources. People in Nepal often have to go to considerable lengths to be seen by someone with even basic skills, let alone a specialist. One of our partner hospitals specialises in dentistry, which is provided throughout the local community. Under expert supervision you could observe check-ups, abscess surgeries, restorations, pulpectomies, and more. Display skill and enthusiasm and you’ll win the trust of local specialists, which will enrich your experience.

In Kathmandu, you will see significant differences between the most fundamental aspects of care. For example, a lack of patient privacy, lack of cross-infection control, and even the way routine procedures are performed. One example would be manual intubation conducted without anaesthesia. In the busy A&E department, you will see how patients’ and families’ ability to pay for treatment has a significant bearing on the way conditions are diagnosed and treated.

Nepal’s focus on physiotherapy has shifted in the last decade. Practice has grown significantly — there were only 30 qualified physiotherapists recorded in 2007 versus 500 in 2012. You’ll see a broad range of ailments as a result of the varied lives people from Kathmandu lead, whether they’re from the city, or the mountain foothills surrounding it. The departments in the hospitals we’re partnered with operate as rehabilitative centres for patients after accidents, falls, spinal injuries and more. Most of your patients will be referred to you from the neurology, orthopaedics, and ENT departments.

The radiography department in our major partner hospital has a good range of facilities by local standards. These services are offered at a reasonable rate in comparison to other private hospitals in Nepal. Patient volumes vary wildly, but there are typically around 50 patients for USG, 15 for CT scan, up to 150 patients for X-ray and around 8 for the MRI scan per day, making this a very varied placement indeed. You’ll also be placed alongside a number of specialists whose knowledge and expertise you will find invaluable.

Modern pharmacy is a relatively new concept in Nepal. Ayurveda or ‘tree medicine’ practitioners are still prevalent throughout the country and they use concoctions of herbs, along with ancient Hindu healing prayers to treat the sick. While you’re in the hospitals and clinics we’ve partnered with in Kathmandu, you’ll see exactly how pharmacy is developing. You’ll have the chance to undertake ward rounds, dispense medicine in the pharmacies, gain experience in the hospital’s pharmacovigilance unit, and more.