Staff at the James Paget University Hospital (JPUH) have been presented with a hand carved frame from Nepal to thank them for their generosity in helping the Nepal Earthquake Appeal.

Health Exchange Nepal (HExN) wanted to extend their thanks for the donations they have received from JPUH. Immediately after the earthquake struck, Kamal Aryal, a native to Nepal and a general surgeon at JPUH set up a fundraising page via HExN from which £6378.85 was raised mainly by hospital staff, friends and patients. £4000 of this was raised from a summer ball held by JPUH Junior Doctors. The money has been used to re-build a school which was completely destroyed in a village called Darbung in Gorkha which was very close to the epicentre of the earthquake.

In addition to this the JPUH Medical School donated £700 to HExN to help fund the Laparoscopic (key hole surgery) training carried out in Nepal in December 2015 by Kamal Aryal and Andreas Brodbeck, an anaesthetist at JPUH. The money was used to buy simulators and training units.

Christine Allen, chief executive, said: “I’m delighted to receive this token of thanks from HExN. I’m enormously proud of the team who went out to Nepal and the determination of our staff to help the people of Nepal in their hour of need.”

Work is about to begin on re-building another school in a village called Arubas adjacent to the other village also destroyed by earthquake. This school is being built in the name of the Nepalese Doctors Association (NDA) UK as they have raised £3715 pounds in donations from our theatres and staff at JPUH, Gorleston Rotary Club and patients. NDA UK will be topping this up to £5000 pounds.