Gestation, Gems, and Jenga

On Wednesday, we had the chance to visit a local government hospital, called the Civil Service Hospital of Nepal. Government employees can go there to receive discounted care. It was clearly a popular place, with the line for admission looking intimidating and very long.

We began our day by sitting in a classroom for an hour or so, receiving what I call "the India treatment." Back when we were traveling through Delhi, we were told to sit in a waiting area for "a few minutes" before we could change gates. Those few minutes stretched into more than an hour. A similar thing happened at this hospital. It made sense, really. The hospital was waiting for the right administrator to receive us before taking us around the facility. It only seemed strange because our team is used to being able to go anywhere we want in the Hopkins hospital. I've realized what a privilege that freedom is, now that we're in a country where our reputation is not established and hospitals understandably want to keep an eye on us.

Still, in this case, as in all the others, we were warmly received once the chief nurse arrived. Despite the weirdness of foreign engineering students asking to see labor rooms and deliveries, the hospital personnel here have been obliging, and both MIS and Preterm have been fortunate to have opportunities for both observation and interviews.

She showed us to the OB/GYN ward, where we got to see quite possibly the most stylish delivery beds ever. Unfortunately for us, we did not get to see anybody use those beds, since the hospital has a lower volume of births and did not have any women in labor that day.

This visit allowed us to see how mothers are cared for along every stage. We got to see the antenatal checkup rooms, the labor rooms, the delivery room, the post-natal ward (babies!!!), and the exam rooms where infants receive vaccines and mothers receive family planning counseling. This illustrates the problem with trying to pin a high preterm birth rate on one factor. There are so many different aspects of maternal and neonatal care that are vital to ensuring that infants are born full-term and healthy.

After our tour of OB/GYN, we got to speak to two out of the three biomedical technicians in charge of repairing all broken equipment at the hospital. Their perspective was important to understanding design considerations for any device we make. They mentioned that machines with complicated instructions (sometimes in foreign languages!) and lots of moving parts often remained broken once they failed. I was impressed with the equipment they had managed to repair, but listening to challenges they faced reinforced the idea that devices must be serviceable for the long term.

As we were heading out, we ran into Dr. Vikal, the head of the surgery at the hospital, who has eight years of experience doing minimally invasive surgeries. He met with us and provided feedback to the MIS team. We soon found out he had no formal training in MIS, but he had been to workshops and bought a box trainer to practice his skills and train his juniors. He invited the MIS team to come observe his procedures the next day.

We left the hospital in the afternoon with a little bit of free time, and Sheetal graciously agreed to provide local shopping advice. We navigated the bustling traffic (both cars and cows) to go to New Street, known for its many jewelry shops. 

Sheetal pointed us to the most reputable places, and also directed us to the restaurant with the best momos of the entire trip. Considering we have eaten hundreds of momos these past few weeks, that is saying a LOT!

That night, we used our usual restaurant selection strategy (wander around until we find some place that looks interesting) to arrive at The Electric Pagoda. I only add this because this restaurant had Jenga to play while we waited for our food! Jenga got so intense that the entire table of European tourists next to us, plus the cat that lived in the restaurant, could not take their eyes off of the game. Then again, the cat may have just wanted Lindsay's tacos. Cats are enigmatic like that.

All in all, Wednesday was a fun mix of work and play, with a hospital visit that helped both teams, and a chance to see more of the city. We're really thankful we have been able to get so much out of our hospital visits while getting to experience what Nepal has to offer!