Korea passes on healthcare knowhow to Nepal
This is the fifth in a series of articles highlighting KOICA’s volunteer activities in developing nations. ― ED
By Kang Hyun-kyung
South Korea’s aid agency is passing its healthcare knowhow on to Nepal, a country aiming to emulate Korea’s model.
Nepal has resemblances to where South Korea was 50 years ago.
The small South Asian country is as destitute as South Korea was five decades ago. Civil war (1996-2006) has left Nepalese people living in political instability, which was the case of South Korea 50 years ago.
After the Korean War (1950-53), there were popular protests calling for democracy in South Korea in 1960. The nation had been in turmoil for a while.
There is a geopolitical similarity, too, between the two nations.
They share a border with two powers. Korea has China on the East and Japan on the West, the world’s number two and three economies, respectively. Nepal shares its border with China and India, the world’s two fastest-growing economies.
Aid workers say these similarities will make it easier for South Korea to implement a tailored aid package to Nepal.
Having overcome economic and political setbacks, South Korea has achieved what other nations had never dreamed of before.
Over the past five decades, the once aid-reliant, poverty-stricken nation has become affluent enough to give a helping hand to those in need.
The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) has launched a pilot healthcare project to help the Nepalese people have access to health insurance since December.
Kim Chang-yup, a professor at Seoul National University’s School of Public Health, is in charge of what he calls “the health system strengthening project.”
Kim, 51, drew up the backbone of the healthcare program for Nepal after carrying out an adequacy study through a field trip.
The public health specialist met with local experts, government officials and residents during the trip to Nepal.
Kim labeled the health care project in Nepal as a milestone program in South Korea’s foreign aid history.
“KOICA has financed the construction of clinics in developing nations,” he said.
The physical infrastructure-oriented aid policy has met skepticism as the living standards of local people have not changed.
“The health status of local residents has not improved even after clinics were built in the country,” Kim said.
Milestone project
Ineffective foreign aid has spurred soul-searching in many global donors, including Seoul, to make their aid packages workable.
After a series of debates over aid effectiveness, aid workers finally took the approach of, “Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Teach him to fish, you feed him for life.” Thus avoiding one-off and doomed to fail gestures.
The health care project in Nepal is a model program that came after South Korea’s decade-long search for a sustainable aid solution for poor nations.
KOICA’s healthcare program for Nepal was initiated by Korean missionaries and medical volunteers posted in the South Asian country.
After watching local residents grappling with disease and health-related problems, several medical volunteers recommended Nepalese policymakers request their Korean counterparts to build healthcare infrastructure.
The Nepalese government followed their recommendation.
The pilot project was launched in six regions, including the nation’s southwest Tikapur.
Under the plan, South Korea will spend $1 million for the next two years. Aid experts aim to find a suitable health insurance model for Nepal.
If this is successful, other parts of Nepal will introduce the health insurance program.
Professor Kim said it is too early to predict whether the pilot project will work. But he said he is optimistic about the prospects for success because he found hope among the Nepalese.
“Policymakers, experts and local residents there are eager to make a difference,” he said.
The medical environment facing local residents is very poor. Child mortality is high, and the majority of residents are malnourished and going hungry.
“In the southwestern city of Tikapur, it’s common to see patients who walk for two hours to receive medical treatment at the nearest hospital,” he said.
“The population of the city is approximately 400,000. But there is only one hospital. Only two doctors are working there, but usually one doctor sees patients.”
Kim said these medical workforces were not trained properly at medical school so they send pregnant women, who need a Cesarean operation, to a big hospital located in another city.
‘Aspiring to emulate Korea’
Park Sang-hoon, a former South Korean ambassador to Nepal (2003-2006), said that Nepal is one of the developing nations that aspires to be as rich and stable as South Korea.
“The Nepalese public has a positive image of Korea. The country expressed its willingness to learn its development model,” Park said.
The former ambassador to Nepal currently heads the Office of Diplomatic Competency Assessment at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
The two nations signed diplomatic relations in 1974. Since then, Park said the two sides have maintained very good relations.
In 2009, South Korea picked Nepal as one of the core partners to give more assistance to.
Before this, South Korea had provided an average $1.5 million of foreign aid annually to Nepal. After 2009, the scale of foreign aid to the South Asian country doubled.
Nepal grappling with food shortages
Nepal is heavily reliant on foreign aid. Recent food shortages have made it more difficult for Nepalese people to lead normal lives.
Earlier, the World Food Program (WFP) said that an estimated 3.6 million people in Nepal are grappling with food insecurity, warning the nation is on the brink of a food crisis caused by chronic drought.
Numerous international aid agencies and workers have flocked to the poor South Asian country to help its people.
The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) has constructed clinics and sent aid and medical volunteers to help the war-torn nation grappling with food shortages.
Japan’s aid agency constructed roads in Kathmandu.
China and Southeast Asian nations contributed financial resources to build hospitals there.
The WFP has launched several programs, including school meals and other incentives, to make children attend class, instead of going to work.
Nepal is as poor as poverty-stricken North Korea in terms of per capita income.
Its per capita income is approximately $500.
Of the population of 29 million, about 40 percent of Nepalese people live below the poverty line. Malnutrition, hunger, child mortality and high jobless rates are major social problems there.
A Maoist-led uprising began in 1996 and lasted for 10 years, ending Nepal’s centuries old monarchy.
Maoists and the government reached a compromise in 2006 as the two sides signed a peace treaty in November and this was followed by the formation of an interim coalition government.
The 10-year-long civil war between Maoists and the government has left a deep scar in Nepal. Political unrest has continued and this holds back the economy.
The civil war also destroyed public facilities. The middleclass has eroded into working-class citizens.
The majority of the country’s population is involved in the agriculture sector.
The nation’s poor infrastructure makes it difficult to produce manufacturing goods. About 20 percent of its economy relies on remittances from overseas Nepalese.