Ganesh Koirala

Ganesh Koirala is 45yrs old. He was born in a remote area of Nepal called Dolakha. He is married and has one daughter and one son. He lives in Kadakhari, Kathmandu. Ganesh is a nurse at Hospice Nepal. He has been working there for many years and sees patients in their homes as well as in the hospice where he cares for end of life patients involving managing pain, breathing difficulty, feeding , catheterization, dressing, toileting, bathing, counseling etc.

He studied at the local village primary school from years 1-5. After that the government applied a system for fee paying when he was in class 6. At that time the school fee was 20 rupees per month but his father was unable to find this. His father had to look after five children and his wages were insufficient even for food. Sometimes they had to sleep with empty stomachs. His eldest sister and brother died on the same day within six hours of each other, due to lack of health service in his village. This continues to cause great sadness to his parents.

He passed his exams in grade 6 but due to economic problems his father could not pay the fee, so the school blocked his result.

Ganesh was 11yrs when he arrived in Kathmandu with his uncle. He got a job in a hotel as a dishwasher. Ganesh states that he had never known happiness, his childhood having passed with lots of struggle. He went to night school and worked every morning and evening in the hotel. After he completed class 10, he got job in a tourist restaurant in Thamel, again as a dishwasher. The restaurant boss was a rich business man. He opened up a private hospital and Ganesh worked as a ward helper. He continued to work extra shifts whilst studying and completing his CMA (Community Medical Assistant). He graduated top in his class, and afterwards got a job has an OPD assistant (operating departments practitioner) working with Dr Rajesh Gongal who is one of the founders of the hospice. Ganesh was offered a job at the hospice and was sponsored to travel to India to complete his palliative care training. He has since been sponsored to complete a heath assistant qualification.