All children in Nepal deserve the best healthcare, no matter where they live or whether they are rich or poor. By building a comprehensive children’s hospital in Kathmandu, KIOCH has committed itself to achieve this. We are very proud to be able to tell you that this June, KIOCH was officially registered as a Private Not for Profit Company in Nepal.

A very valuable piece of land to build the hospital has been promised as a gift; at the moment, KIOCH is in negotiation over the best location possible to serve as many children as possible in and around Kathmandu.

Despite the rainy working visit of the board of KIOCH from Nepal to our country, we are left with a sunny feeling about the outcomes of the meetings with KPMG. From August 22nd to 25th, the business case for building the Kathmandu Institute of Child Health continued with workshops, presentations and meetings with stakeholders, experts and donors. The outcomes of the business case are positive so far. The three specializations on oncology, cardiology and psychiatry are final. We will complete the business case at the end of September, after which we can start with the technical design.

The urgency has never been so clear and felt so deeply as during our recent visit to Nepal. We went to Nepal to photograph and film children who just had surgery, who were waiting for surgery and who had only little time left with their families.

We started the new year off with some great new partnerships. We were very excited to receive a generous support by the Bank of Kathmandu Limited. They invited Nepal Rastra Bank’s Governor, Dr. Chiranjibi Nepal as the chief guest to initiate its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) campaign. The Bank announced to donate $86,000 USD to KIOCH for the construction of our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) section and signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Dr. Bhagawan Koirala, our Founder Chairman.

The Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB), the second largest commercial bank in Nepal, also provided financial support of $ 43,000 USD for the construction of our hospital building as part of its corporate social responsibility program. The agreement was inked by the bank’s Chief Executive Officer Kiran Kumar Shrestha and KIOCH Founder President Dr Bhagawan Koirala. Nirmal Hari Adhikari, the bank’s chairperson, handed over the cheque to Dr Koirala.

In addition to these generous donations, we raised or pledged approximately another $86,000 USD from different sources within Nepal. We will continue to fundraise with passion and perseverance for KIOCH and appreciate all the worldwide  support we have already received. Thank you for your trust and partnership!

We have officially signed the Land Lease Agreement with the Office of Land Management and we paid the first installment of lease.

The government land survey office personnel completed the boundary marking of the land to identify the property lines of our future Children’s Hospital.

Within the past month, we have leveled the land by about 3 meters, and part of the low land was filled with soil and pressed. Today, we have added almost 750 square meters (SQM) of flat land.

We are so happy that the local community center building has offered us space for a site office in return for support with repairs and maintenance of the building and premises. As a result, we have begun office furnishing and created a nice garden in front of the office.