CIWEC Clinic Travel Medicine Center (also known as CIWEC Hospital) is a specialist travel related illness hospital based in Kathmandu with a second hospital in Pokhara, Nepal. It has been open since 1982 and was the first travel medicine centre in Asia. The reason for its opening was to meet the needs of western aid workers and diplomats when they visited Nepal.

I visited the Pokhara hospital this morning and was surprised to find it sat nestled amongst the countless hotels on the south side of the lake. For a private hospital, I guess it is good to be hidden out of the way of the locals and blends in with its surroundings. When I first arrived, I stepped into a lovely courtyard with tables and chairs which was the home for the reception. I was surprised to see they had a price chart up in the reception as well as a flu vaccination reminder poster.

I had contacted Astha yesterday who is the hospital administrator and within 5 minutes of me arriving she was there to show me around. She had excellent English and showed me the facilities available. Beside the reception was a Nurses’ Triage room where two nurses were sat working and waiting for patients. Their A& E consisted of one bed in a small enough room with observation machines and other essentials. There were 4 inpatient rooms which looked remarkably similar to the rooms that the NHS provide: one bed, a tv, a sideboard and a window. Beyond this, there was a path lab with staff inside and then to the rear of the building was the radiology department.

There was one x-ray room and they used CR which seemed to be quite an updated version of CR. I am interested to see the difference between this private tourist hospital and Manipal Hospital which is a public hospital but patients must still pay for their healthcare. Astha said that there are schemes in place to get free or discounted healthcare but by time they are approved, most patients chose to pay for their healthcare.

Next door to the x-ray room was the ultrasound room which also contained quite up to date equipment and was a nice large room so that the patients could have a chaperone present.

Astha offered for me to speak to the Doctor there today but unfortunately he was unavailable so I may venture back to ask him a few questions about healthcare in Nepal.

Overall I was very impressed by this small hospital, it was clean, professional and of a very high standard. It was good to see that there were no inpatients there at the time I visited which hopefully implies that not too many tourists fall ill in Pokhara.

I am now relaxing with a mint lemonade in Perky Beans before meeting everyone for lunch and then heading out to the Boys Home to help them with their homework.

We’re also having dinner out again tonight but its a surprise as to where we’re going! Let’s hope it’s a change from daal bhat!

Jovi

* Trip sponsored by RTC Medical Solutions and Bangor University *