Medicines Arrive in Nepal as Health Providers Work to Reach the Last Mile

Fourteen tons of requested medical aid arrived in Kathmandu, Nepal, over the weekend to support communities impacted by last month's flash floods.

More than 1,300 people were killed when catastrophic flooding swept through entire communities in northern Nepal and southern Tibet on August 26. More than 5,000 people are still missing, and more than 13,000 people have been rescued.

Medical aid from Direct Relief was pre-positioned in the country before the floods, allowing emergency response teams to deploy immediately and begin providing care. Additional requested support arrived in the country on Sept. 6 and will be distributed in coordination with Nepal's Ministry of Health and Population.

The shipment contains items to address medical needs, including antibiotics, IV fluids, medications for chronic disease management, water purification supplies, and personal protective equipment.

Direct Relief is also working with local organizations to distribute medical support and provide services to the last mile of the response, to communities where access remains limited or cut off due to infrastructure damage. One Heart Worldwide, the Shanti Foundation, Mountain Heart Nepal, and Dhulikhel Hospital all reported last week how they've been reaching communities, in spite of major access challenges.

More than 40 bridges have been washed away, leaving many communities with limited road access, particularly in Rasuwa district. That district's road connection to Nuwakot district to the south, which borders Kathmandu, the country's capital, has been severed. Crews are working to clear roads in order to install temporary bridges, and air support to remote areas continues. Roads that are still open have been challenging due to ongoing rains.

"It's been a real race against time, because access is very difficult," according to Gordon Willcock, Direct Relief's Regional Director of Asia Pacific Programs. Willcock was in Kathmandu to receive the recent infusion of medical aid and met with local organizations responding, including One Heart World Wide.

Surya Bhatta of One Heart Worldwide described the organization's recent trip into affected areas to bring medical aid after "six or seven hours of off-roading from mountain to mountain," he said. The organization was able to deliver requested medications to Trishuli Hospital in Nuwakot, as well as bring counselors to Rasuwa to provide psychological first aid to people in holding centers that have been displaced by the floods.

The organization shared a video of a delivery truck making its way through thick mud on the road from Galchi Dhading, the only road north, on the way to deliver aid to Trishuli Hospital in Nuwakot.

"The main highway that people used to travel is all gone now," said Jagdishwor Upadhyay, also of One Heart Worldwide. An alternate route through Nuwakot "is a rural road," not a regular highway, he said, and rains have caused even more degradation to the road. When the group arrived, Upadhyay said a counselor was able to connect with a woman who was six months pregnant. She lost her family members, as well as her life savings, and her home, he recounted. She was staying at the holding center, and One Heart Worldwide was able to connect her with nutrition, hygiene products, and also clothing.

"It's a really small thing, but it means a lot," he said.

One Heart Worldwide shared a video of people crossing the Trishuli River via zipline. Rains have continued in the area, and the river could be seen running below.

Another Direct Relief partner organization, the Shanti Foundation, reported last week that they had arrived in the Trishuli flood-affected areas in Tukuche, Nuwakot, which lies along the road to Rasuwa.

"We are traveling to Rasuwa via the Dhading Road," she reported, and local leaders reported that more than 600 people in the area had been swept away by the floods. The organization is providing support to women and children impacted by the disaster.

Mountain Heart Nepal reported last week that "we are focusing our response on Rasuwa, where little assistance has reached because of the difficult and treacherous road conditions. Much of the relief effort has understandably been concentrated in the more accessible parts of Nuwakot."

"We are delivering essential medicines and medical supplies to Jibjibe Primary Hospital and affected communities around Kalikasthan. We also moved oxygen concentrators from [Siddhasthali] hospital to Rasuwa, as the local hospital was struggling to care for patients with COPD and asthma due to a lack of oxygen cylinders and limited options for refilling them."