C-Section Success in Far-Western Nepal

November 20, 2013 - Sara Wade & Sarah Rasmussen

19-year old Moti Kala was diagnosed with placenta previa during her fourth antenatal check up at Bayalpata Hospital. Until recently, this diagnosis would have necessarily meant referral to a different facility hours away, due to a lack of surgical capacity. But thanks to some exciting progress, Bayalpata Hospital was able to open the doors of its surgical unit to Moti Kala after she spent hours making the trek from her home to our hospital on foot, and we successfully performed our first ever c-section delivery.

Moti Kala is only one of the many women in this district who do not have access to the myriad of prenatal, neonatal, and maternal healthcare services readily available in the US. The infant mortality rate in Achham District has always been very high due to this shortage, ranking within the 6th highest maternal mortality ratios globally. Since the beginning, it has been one of our goals to lift the dismal maternal and infant mortality rates in the region. By providing dignified and quality maternal care to pregnant women and new mothers we also strive to improve the maternal mortality rate. To accomplish this, we have put into action a variety of programs and partnerships.

Our efforts to improve the overall quality of healthcare services available to both expecting and new mothers and their children have culminated in the successful c-section delivery of Moti Kala’s newborn baby boy. Our CEO, Mark Arnoldy, was appropriately optimistic about this accomplishment as he said, “This may seem like a somewhat minor benchmark in the grand scheme of our history and growth, but it has been years in the making and represents a significant shift forward in our collective ability to imagine a higher degree of care than has ever before existed on-site.” Since July 2013, the team at Bayalpata Hospital has successfully delivered four babies via c-section, re imagining what is possible for rural communities globally.