In February 2018 NephcEurope visited for the first time Nepal and India by means of a travel through these two beautiful countries.
We spoke to many people about all kind of aspects of life, amongst which were patients with chronic kidney diseases or patients in need of dialysis or transplantation.
Recently the Board of NephcEurope has taken the decision to start a project to work on improved care for kidney patients in Nepal.
On July 28th 2018, NephcEurope together with the National Kidney Center’s Executive Director Dr. Rishi Kafle organised in KGH’s Kathmandu’s Park Village Hotel the first Nepalese Kidney Health Care Think Tank where numerous stakeholders in Nepalese Kidney care were present. Together they identified the most crucial needs to improve the quality of life for kidney patient care.
On August 2nd 2018, NephcEurope and Dr Rishi Kafle were invited by the Ministry of Health to a meeting with the Head of the DG Health to come and explain about their initiative and results. The Head was very impressed by and also positive about our initiative and strongly encouraged us to continue! It was a mere joy to be able to spar with him so openly.
Last but not least NephcEurope visited the National Nepalese Kidney center to talk and exchange about thoughts and practises in the treatment of chronic kidney patients. For more information see https://www.nkc.org.np/
In February 2019, NephcEurope visited for the first time the National Transplant Center of Nepal. In a joint meeting it was discussed what is the present situation of healthcare provisions for End Stage Renal Disease patients in Nepal.
I would like to express that I am personally inspired by the excellent team that I met during my visit to Nepal. We continue our efforts!
On 15th September 2019 by joint cooperation with Dr Prem Gyawali of the Tribhuvan University Hospital Nepal, NephcEurope opened the ESOT congress in Copenhagen by means of a poster presentation on patient organisation driven kidney health care innovation for Nepal.
By combining the knowledge and our network/community of Europe with Nepal we are convinced that mutual cooperation will improve mutual insights.
In March 2023 just after the troublesome years of the Covid pandemic, NephcEurope’s chair revisited Nepal to continue the efforts to further organ donation and transplantation. Thanks to the fact that she spent a month in Kathmandu, she as able to meet the various stakeholders. NephcEurope was honored to be able to speak once more with the Ministry of Health by means of a visit to the Health Secretary Roshan Pokhrel.
There were multiple meetings with the CEO and staff members of The National Transplant Center in Bhaktapur where NephcEurope witnessed the annual meeting of the staff. A joint meeting with the transplant coordinators was extremely informative. See for more informatiion https://hotc.org.np/
NephcEurope also had a broad meeting with an small organization Nepal Organ Donation Foudation that creates more awareness on the importance of (deceased) organ donation. https://www.nepaldonatesorgan.org/
By combining the knowledge and our network/community of Europe with Nepal, we are convinced that mutual cooperation will improve mutual insights.
Mrs. Marieke van Meel, The Netherlands
Mr. Madhav Gautam, Nepal
Dr. Rishi Kafle, executive director of National Kidney Center, Nepal
Dr. Pukar Shresta, Director of Bhaktapur National Transplant Hospital
Dr. Dibya Singh, Dean of the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital
Dr. Yincent Tse, Secretary of BAPN (British Association of Pediatric Nephrology), United Kingdom
Prof. Dr. Burkhard Toenshoff, International Pediatric Transplant Association, Germany