Rai's your hands... for occupational therapy

Nepal’s slow economic development and rugged terrain contribute to making healthcare improvement a significant challenge.

Rebika Rai, a Nepali, beat thousands of other applicants to win one of ten places on an occupational therapy course in India, and was sponsored through it by BMS World Mission. (Image: Rebika with Megan Barker, BMS worker)

Despite coming from a country where only 50 per cent of students complete the third year of primary school, she was nonetheless the first student from outside India to gain entry to the course.

Rebika has now completed her training and a six-month internship in India, and has returned to Nepal to practice there as part of a team of health workers from BMS partner United Mission to Nepal, where she is already overseeing an assistant occupational therapy.

Megan, a BMS worker in Nepal, has a vision to see occupational therapy develop as a profession there. She says, “It is so encouraging to see OT (begin) to develop as an occupation in Nepal.  Rebika is the third Nepali that I know of who is living and working in Nepal as a qualified OT.  Just a few more will make training in Nepal a viable option”.

22/06/2010