A successful Kathmandu cardiologist who had made a name for himself treating the rich and powerful was suddenly jolted into an acute awareness of the entrenched poverty and endemic disease afflicting the people of rural Nepal. While others might have let that moment of revelation pass with nothing but a twinge of conscience, Dr. Mrigendra Raj Pandey put his money where his mind was.
In 1975, Dr. Pandey set up the Mrigendra Medical Trust, with the goal of providing medical treatment and health education, and conducting research, all for the benefit of the poor. What began as a personal crusade has, over the past decade, gained an institutional permanence, and an ability to set an agenda in a country where voluntary groups generally wither away as soon as they are born.
At first, the Trust limited its work to providing medical services to the people in the Sundarijal area North East of Kathmandu, and it also opened a clinic for diabetic patients in .the city. But the Trust soon realised that the passive distribution of drugs and medical care could even be counter productive if not supplemented by a broader programme of social awareness.
Accordingly, it organised a programme to supplement village income by providing charkha looms, encouraged village discussion groups to debate what was being done for them, provided scholarships for school children, and even organised spiritual activities to enhance the quality of life. This January, for example, the Trust coordinated a mass (hratabandha) sacred thread ceremony to avoid the economic burden of ostentatious ceremonies. The villagers, too, have met the challenge set by the Trust. For example, the Sundarijal clinic, is now run by the community.