When Chet Prasad Adhikari damaged his spinal cord after he fell from a tree, he was paralyzed from the waist down and he thought his life was over.
“After my injury, I thought I would never be mobile again”, states 46-year-old Adhikari, who has been in a wheelchair for 20 years. Adhikari is now on his 10th year serving as a peer counsellor at One Stop Rehabilitation Centre, in Green Pastures Hospital (GPH), Pokhara, and can be seen moving from one room to the other educating and motivating persons with disabilities, from providing instructions on using wheelchairs efficiently to how to grasp the new realities of their lives.
GPH, the only tertiary care hospital/rehabilitation center for Gandaki Pradesh (Kaski District), has been serving those living with a disability in Western Nepal for more than 60 years. The hospital, now serves some 150 patients, who seek various services such as treatment and rehabilitation for spinal cord injuries, reconstructive surgeries, palliative care, and specialist ear care, on a daily basis. Among them, a minimum of 7 would have visible disability.
The rehabilitation center is now supported by World Health Organization (WHO), under the two-year project - Aawaaz - Inclusion for and by persons with disabilities. Aawaaz, ongoing from 2018, funded by United Nations Partnership on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNPRPD), is being implemented in Nepal by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), and WHO.
Aawaaz is in line with the Constitution of Nepal, the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) 2018-2022, and the Government of Nepal’s vision of living up to the promise of Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development to leave no one behind.
However, most important health services still remain out of reach for persons with disabilities. Aawaaz aims to change that.
With Aawaaz, the rehabilitation center aims to be a model one-stop service provider, with facilities and services under one roof for spinal cord injuries and other orthopedic conditions, in an institution of excellence. The one-stop center is now in the process of constructing in-built barrier-free physical access (including registration counters, bathrooms, and pharmacies), clear and proper signage boards, and an in-house wheelchair workshop with a standby technician.
“Person with disabilities now believe that their voices are being heard, which in turn have given them the greatest gift of all – a will to live again”, states Counsellor Adhikari.
Furthermore, with technical guidance from WHO, the center is also planning to conduct sensitization training for persons with disabilities and their family members/carers, and staff members, on how to manage disabilities; and awareness programs with managers in public and private sectors on prioritizing the needs of persons with disabilities.
These services will also complement the hospital's other services (physiotherapy, occupational therapy, prosthetics, orthotics, counseling, vocational training), and provide a platform for families to socialize and share experiences and learnings.
Green Pastures Hospital is also planning to collect and share detailed data and information about its work, in line with international standards. These data will then serve to further highlight the needs of persons with disabilities and be a basis for policy decisions on more of such services in Nepal.
“The one-stop center, in Green Pastures Hospital, is set up first and foremost with the patient’s needs in mind. It will be a true one-stop, high-quality service provider to persons with disabilities, who all too often are, or feel, left behind”, states Dr. Jos Vandelaer, WHO Representative to Nepal.