First symposium in Nepal on Emergency Medicine and Education

On April 3, faculty representatives from the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) participated in an inaugural symposium at Dhulikhel Hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal. The theme of this one-day symposium was “Challenges and Opportunities in Emergency Medicine Training and Research in Nepal.”

The program was hosted by the Department of Emergency and General Practice of Dhulikhel Hospital in collaboration with MCW. MCW was represented by Drs. Stephen Hargarten, Michael Medich and Bipin Thapa, who co-organized this symposium with Dhulikhel Hospital in collaboration with the MCW Office of Global Health.

Speakers from major Nepali institutions – Kathmandu University, Patan Academy of Health Science, Tribhuvan University, BP Koirala Institute of Health Science, Nepal Mediciti Hospital and Grande International Hospital – along with MCW and Indiana University faculty highlighted the importance of emergency medicine in limited resource settings.

The symposium was presided by Dr. Rajendra Koju, dean of Kathmandu University School of Medical Sciences and Dr. Dipak Shrestha, the associate dean. In addition to discussing the importance of emergency medicine, the partnership visit goal was to enhance cultural and educational experiences by strengthening the relationship between MCW and Dhulikhel Hospital, which was initially established by Dr. Ted Mackinney in 2011.

Dhulikhel Hospital is the most popular global health elective site for fourth-year MCW medical students, hosting nearly 100 trainees to date. Dr. Thapa is the faculty lead for the partnership which was formalized in April 2016 with an affiliation agreement. MCW trainees have gained clinical, research, cultural and different healthcare delivery experiences to build their competency, character, and caring attitude for a diverse patient population.

For more information, please contact the MCW Office of Global Health, globalhealth@mcw.edu.