Last month, Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel and Pokhara Mayor Dhanraj Acharya were burned when hydrogen-filled balloons exploded at the launch of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/pokhara-s-tourism-woes">Pokhara Visit Year 2025</a>. Both were flown to Kathmandu for treatment. In 2023, Nepali Congress Member of Parliament (MP) Chandra Bhandari was severely burned in a kitchen fire. He was taken to India for treatment. His Rs5.6 million medevac and treatment bill was paid by the government. It took the<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/burning-in-the-aftermath,3757"> burn injuries </a>of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/what-nepal-s-vip-prisoners-do-in-jail">high-profile figures </a>in Nepal to finally spark action on an issue that affects mainly the country’s poorest. “We call this the burns paradox,” says Kiran Nakarmi at the Nepal Cleft and Burn Centre at Kirtipur Hospital, where the Pokhara patients received care. “Treatment is costly and <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19400">most victims are poor</a>."&nbsp; About 60,000 people suffer <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/removing-scars?fbclid=IwAR2MiX-ZhGNSsqUwgDYfvLWE3a7ZeLaHncz66MMKLQGtSSraTjr9cF5mIWo">burn injuries</a> in Nepal each year and 2,200 of them die. The demand for care in Kirtipur is growing.&nbsp; In 2014, it treated 90 <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/A-burning-desire-to-help,881">burn patients</a> and this more than doubled to 194 in 2015, reached 373 in 2016, and peaked at 790 in 2023. Last year the Centre treated 753 patients, and in January alone this year it was 111. Ninety-two percent of cases come from outside Kathmandu from 75 districts,” says Nakarmi. “When we started it was 42%.”&nbsp; Ideally, burns treatment should be decentralised so that local levels have primary <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/altruistic-healthcare-models-in-nepal">burn care centres</a> no more than two hours away, where patients can get initial treatment like cooling and dressing of wounds, and fluid replacement. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/removing-scars?fbclid=IwAR3YJaMAa7AekbmwWYy3UlNnJkDj8XZk8qRxcagXd7Sl0M4m4SzolGs_0ow">Removing Scars</a>, Yugeshwor Koirala If necessary, they could be transferred to regional centres to handle surgery for minor burns. The government has already designated six such facilities across the country, and Nakarmi says the Centre could train their staff. He clicks forward on a slide to show a female patient brought in two months ago with her buttocks and thighs burned. “The wound was deep, it was not going to heal on its own. She needed some kind of graft.” If surgeons at a regional facility were properly trained, they could have done the graft. Instead, the patient waited for one month before coming to Kirtipur.&nbsp; Nakarmi is looking for funding for a 70-bed national burn care centre at Kirtipur Hospital, where patients can be isolated from the risk of infection that comes with sharing space in general wards. Another MP, Bindabasini Kansakar, is herself a<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-acid-attack-survivors-find-a-saviour"> survivor of an acid attack </a>by a spurned suitor in 2013. She registered a Bill in Parliament last year that includes specialised burn units in all <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/devolution-for-development">government hospitals </a>with 100+ beds, and in some private hospitals and medical colleges in Kathmandu. She is also calling on the government to create a fund to give immediate <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/justice-delayed-justice-denied-byrx8a1c">financial support to victims </a>and their families, discounts for women and children, especially from poorer communities, as well as training for health staff, twice yearly awareness programmes at local levels, and strong penalties to deter acid attacks and intentional burn injuries. Parliament’s delay in passing the Bill is ‘deeply frustrating, especially given my personal experience,’ Kansakar wrote to us.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250314110312_8d1a63b9d63d2ee0c116ffa1bc46e9a3aa5e63e7cdeeceb5a67fd7e772fbe957.jpg" data-media-id="editor_11" data-image-id="20250314110312_8d1a63b9d63d2ee0c116ffa1bc46e9a3aa5e63e7cdeeceb5a67fd7e772fbe957" data-rendition-name="original" width="1446" height="717" loading="lazy" alt="burn incidents in Nepal"> <figcaption>Member of Parliament Bindabasini Kansakar before an acid attack by a spurred suitor in 2013 (left), after, and now. </figcaption> </figure>  ‘I know first-hand the physical, emotional, and financial struggles<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=18771"> burn victims </a>endure. Delays mean more victims are left without proper care, financial support, or legal protection,’ she added. ‘If burns affected wealthier or more influential communities, the response might have been swifter. This inequality is precisely why the Bill is so crucial — to ensure<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/justice-delayed-justice-denied-byrx8a1c"> justice and support for all victims</a>, regardless of their social standing.’ Burn incidents are the second most common injury in rural Nepal, according to the World Health Organization, and researcher Kamal Phuyal says that making just a handful of simple adjustments to everyday life could prevent most major burns. Before <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/ways-nepal-can-rebound-from-covid-19-2966ixvu">Covid-19</a>, he ran a research project in three municipalities in the mountains, hills and Tarai. After six months gathering data, the team told locals to make changes in their communities to prevent burns. For the next two and a half years, Phuyal worked with health staff, female community <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/enlisting-female-health-volunteers-to-fight-covid-19-b4qlgy1e">health volunteers</a> and other locals. In that time, the number of major burns in the three districts dropped from 21 to zero for two years running. The most effective change was to stop people from cooking on the ground. “If you can put the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/what-s-cooking-in-nepal-besides-politics">cooking stoves</a> just three feet (1m) off the ground, 50% of burns can be eliminated,” explains Phuyal.&nbsp; Nakarmi says that 70% of patients at Kirtipur Hospital, too, got burn injuries in the kitchen. “It should be the safest place to be, but it is the most unsafe,” she adds. Phuyal says<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/deputies-drive-development-in-rural-nepal"> local representatives</a> were convinced by his findings and, especially in Makwanpur, eager to make changes. He expected them to adopt a policy to approve construction of a house only if the plans included putting the cooking space 1m off the ground, to reduce burn incidents, Phuyal explained at a training session at Sushma Koirala Memorial Hospital (SKMH) last October. But <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-s-uneven-covid-19-deaths">Covid-19</a> hit, the project ended, the officials were replaced after elections, and the work lost momentum. Today, no <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/local-government-by-the-people-for-the-people-of-the-people">local government</a> seems to have moved forward on <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=18770">burn prevention</a>. During the training session at SKMH, the hospital’s deputy director, Rojina Shilpakar, described some of the burn cases at the facility in recent months. In Dailekh district, two boys were severely burned while collecting fodder. “The parents all thought that they would die so they didn’t take them for medical help. But after two weeks they survived and the story was posted on <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-social-media-contagion">social media</a>.” The hospital reached out and arranged for both boys to be brought to Kathmandu, one to Kirtipur Hospital and the other to SKMH, with burns on 40% of his body. “He was emaciated, just flesh and bones, covered in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/medicine-goes-back-to-its-roots?fbclid=IwAR31DMkL6vtx8KFvX3KG79Jf6omKN8H8VZ0Dr9G-1UWtIBlFHNphMJi8mrY">herbal medicine </a>that looked like mud,” recalls Shilpakar. If he had been brought for treatment quickly, he could have recovered sooner, she adds. But he was <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nearly-half-of-nepali-children-still-malnourished">malnourished,</a> and contractures had developed where one part of the body sticks to another, preventing movement. “We couldn’t take him to the operating room right away because of his malnourished condition. He had to gain some weight, increase his haemoglobin levels. Even skin grafts were not taken properly, so it affected the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-art-of-healing">healing,</a>” explains Shilpakar. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/pandemic-of-poverty">Poverty</a> prevents many families from<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/it-s-an-emergency-nepal-needs-to-improve-trauma-care"> seeking care</a>, although both facilities will not turn away burn cases for <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/poor-cash-rich-nepal">lack of money</a>. SKMH paid the bills for the Dailekh boys' treatment, including an eight-month hospital stay. Now seven, the youngster has already had a follow-up surgery and is likely to need more operations as he grows. Smaller <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/healthcare-moving-from-hospitals-to-homes">hospitals</a> outside Kathmandu often do not not accept severe burn cases, and instead send them immediately to a larger facility. “If the patient dies within a few hours, they will be blamed, So they just try to push them away,” adds Shilpakar. SKMH has been <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16801">training health workers</a> from across the country to treat burns since 2012. This includes countering the prevalent belief at the time that burn victims should not be given fluids. Patients would reach the centre <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/dirty-dangerous-difficult-and-dehydrating">dehydrated</a>, and then go into acute <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/saving-kidneys-to-save-nepal">kidney failure</a>. Some with a high percentage of burns die. Those cases have decreased in the last few years because <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/nepal-health-workers-at-risk-of-workplace-hazards">health workers </a>have been trained, including to give fluids to patients. The treatment at the Cleft and Burn Centre has become much more effective since it opened in 2014. Says Nakarmi: “Back then we could not save anyone who had 40% burns or greater. Now we can save half of victims with 40% burns, and if someone has 60% burns, they have a 15% chance of survival. We aim to save half of patients with 60% burns.” The centre developed a six-day training for health staff on burns care for workers from facilities country-wide, but funding was provided by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/how-usaid-cut-affects-nepal">USAID</a> and has been cut. There is no replacement in sight. Recent increase in government support for burns treatment seems to have been sparked by the case of MP Bhandari. In October, the government announced free treatment for patients from the<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/why-nepal-s-poverty-rate-is-stuck"> poorest families</a>.&nbsp; “But there is a little catch,” says Nakarmi. “The treatment of destitute burn victims, are supposed to be covered right? But everyone else also wants to get support. A lot of Nepali people are not destitute, but they are poor. We just try to cover their costs as much as possible.”

Marty Logan

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A burning problem that needs solutions

Pritam Kunwar was born with a cleft lip and palate in Pokhara, but his family could not afford treatment for his condition. His face was disfigured, his speech was unintelligible, and the food he ate would often get into his nasal cavity.&nbsp; Finally, at 15 he received cleft surgery, but without post-operative therapy his speech was still impaired. Then one day, at age 26, his life changed. He used to make a living rowing boats at Phewa Lake, where a foreigner hopped on for a ride. He turned out to be a plastic surgeon volunteering in Nepal who referred him to Fishtail Hospital. That is where he met Shankar Man Rai. Kunwar underwent a second surgery, and received speech therapy. Today, he holds a Taekwondo black belt, and runs an academy by Pokhara’s Lakeside, training young women in self-defence. “Before my second surgery, the students at my martial arts academy did not understand a word I said, but after I could speak properly they learnt faster,” recalls Kunwar.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230804080844_7e557a7682a0bc504237ed5cf9b1b6082ecf346ee34a541c43ae00d25377a2d2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20230804080844_7e557a7682a0bc504237ed5cf9b1b6082ecf346ee34a541c43ae00d25377a2d2" data-rendition-name="original" width="7238" height="2400" loading="lazy" alt="Removing scars 2"> <figcaption>Pritam Kunwar was born with a cleft lip and palate in Pokhara. After two surgeries and speech therapy, he now runs a Taekwondo academy training women in self defence.(Photo: Jana Ašenbrennerová)</figcaption> </figure>  On average, one out of every 500 live births in Nepal is a case of cleft lip or palate, birth deformities in which the lip or palate fail to fuse. Incidence in Nepal is higher than in most parts of the world for reasons which are unclear, but may have to do with a combination of genetic and environmental factors.&nbsp; However, the numbers afflicted are going down due to awareness and treatment at the <a href="https://nepalcleftandburncenter.org/">Nepal Cleft and Burn Center</a> at Kirtipur overlooking Kathmandu.&nbsp; “Before the 1980s, cleft and burn treatment through plastic surgery was unheard of in the country,” explains Shankar Man Rai, who is now a plastic surgeon and director of the Kirtipur centre. “International volunteer teams carried out the procedures, while Nepali doctors remained under-equipped.” Since then, Rai’s team has seen that scenario change. Improved awareness of the condition means parents bring their children for treatment to the 30-bed Centre almost as soon as they are born.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230804080844_56ba408f9cd1b497374609fc6002f6a5412b99432d4aff498f8f8fca81445e6d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20230804080844_56ba408f9cd1b497374609fc6002f6a5412b99432d4aff498f8f8fca81445e6d" data-rendition-name="original" width="3600" height="2400" loading="lazy" alt="Removing scars"> <figcaption>Shankar Man Rai(Photo: Jana Ašenbrennerová)</figcaption> </figure>  Nepali paediatric and general surgeons were trained by the international teams, and for over 25 years Rai’s team has been treating thousands of burn and cleft patients free of cost. The facility is funded by two non-profits, ReSurge International and Smile Train. The facility at Kirtipur was inaugurated in 2014, but the <a href="https://nepalcleftandburncenter.org/">Cleft and Burn Center </a>was initiated in 2002 by American textile retailer Jim Webber after meeting Rai in Nepal. Webber ran the Tibet Rug company, and organised financial support from other rug importers from Nepal to help fund the project.&nbsp; Since then, the Center has been Nepal’s first and leading teaching hospital specialising in deformity-correction surgery. Today, it is being run by Kirtipur Municipality and the non-profit <a href="https://www.phectnepal.org/">Public Health Concern Trust Nepal (phect-NEPAL)</a>, providing free treatment not just to patients at the centre but through camps in remote parts of the country.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230804080844_a5ba78663011d44d14e8c3f4d8dccbf4eb23c07d9d5dd7770187c4788023878b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20230804080844_a5ba78663011d44d14e8c3f4d8dccbf4eb23c07d9d5dd7770187c4788023878b" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1365" loading="lazy" alt="Removing scars"> <figcaption>Photo: PHECT NEPAL</figcaption> </figure>  Kiran Nakarmi is the head of the Department of Burns, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Kirtipur Hospital who worked with Rai to set up the centre. He says a cleft lip is easily recognised in infants, and can now even be diagnosed via ultrasound before birth. “Timely treatment is important because it yields better speech outcomes,” Nakarmi explains. “Our focus is on comprehensive care. Surgery alone is not enough, it needs follow-up with speech and occupational therapy and counseling.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230804080848_ee0057f9cd2d17d2834babd2164720028ef66b3d41fec3199246d7e21b2d4d91.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20230804080848_ee0057f9cd2d17d2834babd2164720028ef66b3d41fec3199246d7e21b2d4d91" data-rendition-name="original" width="3600" height="2400" loading="lazy" alt="Remioving scars 6"> <figcaption>Kiran Nakarmi looks at a patient.(Photo: Jana Ašenbrennerová)</figcaption> </figure>  The Kirtipur center’s camps have reached many rural parts of Nepal, impacting more than 20,000 cleft patients. Initially, speech therapists used to go to the camps but now has trained nurses like Kabita Bhattarai Gurung to carry out the same task.&nbsp; The outreach camps provide free food, lodging, orthodontic treatment, parental counseling, and speech therapy to patients, a model which Rai says can be replicated globally.&nbsp; The caseload for cleft palates has fallen sharply and the Kiritpur center which used to carry out up to 1,200 cleft operations a year till a decade ago now performs half that.&nbsp; <h2>Burning need</h2>  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230804080844_9a3c5a83db7f5f9ef918acbe1093472f7c9c2c6e9266078038b34420e00208bf.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20230804080844_9a3c5a83db7f5f9ef918acbe1093472f7c9c2c6e9266078038b34420e00208bf" data-rendition-name="original" width="3600" height="2400" loading="lazy" alt="Removing scars"> </figure>  But with the decline in cleft cases, there has been a growing need to treat burn patients at Kirtipur.&nbsp; Bhesh, 14, was playing in his home in western Nepal when he heard his mother shriek from the kitchen. She was cooking when the open fire spread and engulfed the house.&nbsp; Read Also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/burning-in-the-aftermath,3757">Burning in the aftermath,</a> Sahina Shrestha Four days later, both Bhesh and his mother arrived at Nepal Cleft and Burn Center. The long ride had been excruciating, and with burns over 30% of her body, his mother died shortly after. Bhesh went through several surgeries and skin grafts. Over a third of the patients admitted to the Centre are children, and half are women.&nbsp; “We think that the home is the safest place, but that is where most burn injuries occur,” says Rai. “The proportion of children with burns at the Center shot up to over 40% during the pandemic. At home they were more at risk.” Rural women are exposed to open fires, and children suffer because they are largely unsupervised in high-hazard settings. Disfigured burn patients have to deal with social stigma because they are seen as a sign of bad luck.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230804080848_0f27d63b1f3a521c61cdb69bc45799d40ba1bea94c60d094cab9e6b5d7279035.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20230804080848_0f27d63b1f3a521c61cdb69bc45799d40ba1bea94c60d094cab9e6b5d7279035" data-rendition-name="original" width="3600" height="2400" loading="lazy" alt="Removing scars"> </figure>  The Center also treats burn violence usually perpetrated against women in the homes of in-laws, and this adds to the count of the 110 people who die of burns each year in Nepal. “Burns survivors in Nepal need more support,” says<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=18771"> Wendy Marston, co-founder and advisor of Burns Violence Survivors (BVS) Nepal</a>. “Small acts of kindness from all of us, such as the spreading of education, and charitable giving, can go far in helping these survivors and patients.” BVS Nepal works with underserved patients in over 12 hospitals, providing funds for their treatment, therapy, and setting up businesses for survivors. Its prevention approach is shared by the Burn and Cleft Center which also holds burn awareness camps for community health workers and local people. “For household burns, awareness is surely the first step towards prevention,” Rai says. “But we can’t simply tell people what to do if they don’t have the means to act.” A WHO study shows that burns are the second most common injury in rural Nepal, accounting for 5% of disabilities in the country,&nbsp; Read Also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/tsering-sumjok-is-all-right">Tsering Sumjok is all right</a>, Sahina Shrestha “When we first started treating burns, we began with disabilities caused by post-burn contractures,” explains Nakarmi. “If the wound is in a place such as a joint, this causes the patient to lose mobility.”&nbsp; The Kirtipur team prioritises comprehensive care for burn contractures. But unlike with cleft palates, they failed to see any decline in the caseload even after years of effort. Rai says this is because burn survivors are not getting the treatment needed. Surgeons hope that using flaps and grafts they can reduce the occurrence of contractures. Nepal’s difficult geography keeps patients like Bhesh from quickly receiving care. Burn survivors from all over the country are referred to the few specialised centres in Kathmandu, but there is usually a long waiting list and it takes weeks before a doctor can see them.&nbsp; The Kirtipur Center has largely succeeded in minimising waits by enabling surgeons to go to patients instead of the other way around. This means patients at the Center receive the surgery they need within days of being admitted.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230804080852_34cfa9c4509717fa9b1fb8ff4184effa8d3e8d199b834ffae5ca43c117dd6611.jpg" data-media-id="editor_12" data-image-id="20230804080852_34cfa9c4509717fa9b1fb8ff4184effa8d3e8d199b834ffae5ca43c117dd6611" data-rendition-name="original" width="3600" height="2400" loading="lazy" alt="Removing scar"> </figure>  But there are challenges. “Your treatment is not possible here,” were the words that Nepali Congress leader Chandra Bhandari heard at the Nepal Burn and Cleft Center where he was rushed there after suffering severe burn wounds in a gas cylinder explosion in February. Bhandari was eventually medevaced to Mumbai where he was successfully treated.&nbsp; “It is unfair that any Nepali should have to go abroad for burn treatment,” Bhandari told Nepali Times. “Our surgeons are the best in the world, yet they have had to rely solely on individual and community effort. The government urgently needs to support the surgeons, and I pledge to do what I can.”&nbsp; There are only 30-40 reconstructive plastic surgeons in the country, eight of them at Kirtipur, which offers a residency program for reconstructive plastic surgery affiliated with the National Academy of Medical Sciences program at Bir Hospital, whose curriculum was developed by Rai.&nbsp; While cosmetic plastic surgery is a booming profession in Nepal, the niche dedicated to burns treatment has not got the attention it deserves. Kirtipur Hospital, for instance, only has seven ICU beds, The country’s only skin bank at the Center has got only 31 donations in the nine years since it was set up.&nbsp; Read Also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/A-burning-desire-to-help,881">A burning desire to help</a>, Kunda Dixit With little government support, the Center mostly runs on international help for free treatment to about 600 patients a year. But even as its focus shifts from clefts to burns, international assistance is skewed in favour of cleft palates.&nbsp; “We get more donations than we need for clefts,” Rai reveals. “Burns are where we need greater investment, but because they are more expensive and complex, and have higher odds of ending in mortality, there is less interest from donors.” Not only is the government not providing needed help, its bureaucracy puts up obstacles every step of the way. Kirtipur Municipality received a donation of Rs2,900,000 for urgent burn treatment supplies. But red tape has delayed delivery. The Center now has an ambitious plan to establish a sustainable fund for free burns treatment by encouraging donations from well-to-do local Nepalis and the diaspora. The goal is not to have to turn to international donors for money. The Nepal Cleft and Burn Center will soon open a branch in Itahari of Sunsari district with the same level of care as Kirtipur.&nbsp; Says Nakarmi: “We don’t need big, lavish burn hospitals all over the country. We need a lot more primary burn centers where rural patients can receive immediate care, and then be referred to the larger centers if need be.” Nepal has seen major improvements in burn and cleft palate surgeries in recent years thanks to doctors like Rai and Nakarmi. Says Rai: “I am sure we will see a day when no patient seeking treatment in Nepal has to live with scars, both figuratively, and literally.”&nbsp;

Removing Scars

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410110/637203b79c7e80680e0b2821jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="695"/><figcaption>Tsering Sumjok Gurung with German plastic surgeon André Borsche (left) and Peter Hinze (right). Borsche had treated her childhood injury at the Sushma Koirala Memorial Hospital in Kathmandu. All photos courtesy: PETER HINZE</figcaption></figure>Last November, in the waiting room of a hospital in Bad Kreuznach in Germany, Tsering Sumjok Gurung caught glimpse of a familiar face.The tall man with graying hair and moustache was wearing a white coat over a yellow jumper. He was none other than plastic surgeon André Borsche who had treated her horrific childhood burn injury at the <a href="https://www.skmt.org.np">Sushma Koirala Memorial</a> Hospital in Kathmandu ten years previously.“It was an emotional reunion for both of us,” Tsering, now 23, remembers. “He was very friendly and wanted to see how my injuries had healed.”Tsering was 18 months old that summer when her family made the annual migration up to high pasture to graze their yaks. One day, while her mother was tending the livestock, Tsering fell off her crib right into the fireplace. She was badly burnt on her back, and right arm.Read also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/A-burning-desire-to-help,881">A burning desire to help</a>, Kunda Dixit<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410110/637203ba9c7e80680e0b2822jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="308" height="462">There were no doctors in her village of Bhijer, so she was treated for the next four years by the local <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/I-am-an-amchi,3349" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">amchi healer</a>. This kept her alive, but the skin on her right arm was fused with the torso. All her childhood, Tsering was carried around in a doko bamboo basket.“Burns are common in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/dazzling-dolpo/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Dolpo</a> because home life revolves around the kitchen fire,” says Tsering. “I was lucky.”Despite being painful to move around, Tsering started going to school in Bhijer and excelled in studies. In Grade 2, a group of wealthy American and Swiss trekkers visited the school that they had supported. They noticed Tsering, examined her injuries, and helped bring her to Kathmandu for school and treatment. Over the years, the two families have also funded a hospital and a cheese factory in the village.Tsering used to watch her classmates in Kathmandu run and play, or dance in school programs, but could not participate because of her injury. She was eventually admitted to the Sushma Koirala Hospital, which is supported by INTERPLAST-Germany, where André Borsche and his team performed five major operations with reconstructive surgery. Every week, she had to make a painful bus ride from her dorm in Boudha to the hospital in Sankhu for physiotherapy and follow-ups.She missed many classes, but she made up for it by reading books which inspired her to become a doctor, so she could serve her community in Dolpo. Not able to afford higher education, in 2017 she started working as a hostel warden at a school in Chobar.That is when she met German journalist Peter Hinze who was researching his first book on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/The-Great-Himalaya-Trail/dp/3957281377" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amazon.com/The-Great-Himalaya-Trail/dp/3957281377&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1641892465582000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3DjWYFudXKEdEQ0H4UlQmW">The Great Himalayan Trail, </a>and Tsering later travelled with him to Upper Dolpo to make a film with herself as the lead character.Tsering was back in Bhijer for the first time in ten years, and her family and neighbours were surprised how much she had grown and changed. Her injuries were not visible anymore, and no one could believe that a little girl who had such terrible injuries would be so transformed.Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=18771#.Ydv72C8w3u0">Lending a hand</a>, Nepali Times“I met the right people who helped me get treatment otherwise my life would have been different,” Tsering says. “Even now, there are many children in my neighbouring villages who are not as fortunate.”The film project was cancelled because of the pandemic, but Hinze converted the research into the book 100000 Schritte zum Glück about Dolpo, and invited Tsering to Germany for the unveiling in November. The book made it to number 4 on Amazon's best seller list in Germany.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410110/637203bd9c7e80680e0b2823jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="169" height="242">And he had a surprise in store – a meeting with the surgeon who had treated her in Kathmandu all those years ago. It was an emotional and joyful reunion.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410110/637203bf9c7e80680e0b2824jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="641"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>“This was one of the best days in my 26-year career, when I could see the wonderful result of our charity work,” said André Borsche.Tsering was equally happy: “I made it from my family stone hut in Bhijer to the hospital in Germany to meet the surgeon who changed my life.”Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-acid-attack-survivors-find-a-saviour/">Nepal’s acid attack survivors find a saviour</a>, Sabina Devkota<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111410110/637203c19c7e80680e0b2825jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1000">In the hospital, Borsche examined her burn scars and was satisfied with how well her back had healed. He suggested one more operation, but Tsering refused any more treatment.“I am over medical procedures for now,” Tsering told Nepali Times on her return from Germany. “After all those surgeries, I am put off by the sight of blood. I don’t want to think about the pain afterwards. For now I think I am ok.”These days, when Tsering is not busy with her full-time work at the Chobar school, she helps Hinze with Project Dolpo, a private initiative to help those who need assistance in her home district. She gets frequent calls from families in Dolpo who are in distress.Says Hinze: “I think this is a motivating story about a girl who never gave up, and who trusted herself. It shows how when help gets to the right people, the underprivileged and the almost forgotten, it can make a big difference to their lives.”This past week in Kathmandu, Tsering has been busy taking a seven-year-old boy from Dolpo who was also badly burnt with boiling water, and was brought to Kathmandu for treatment. Tsering has been taking the patient to the burns hospital in Kirtipur for medical attention.“It happened to me, and now to this boy. These accidents occur so frequently and Upper Dolpo just does not have the facilities to treat burn injuries,” says Tsering.For now, she wants to complete her education and ultimately return to Dolpo: “I feel it is my responsibility to give back to my community. The only way my village is going to develop is when young people like me get educated, and head back to help others like us. There is so much to do.”Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-prolonged-trauma-of-acid-attack-survivors/">The prolonged trauma of acid attack survivors</a>, Laxmi Basnet

Sahina Shrestha

Tsering Sumjok is all right

Recent outrage in Sikkim over an Indian Army expedition climbing <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/saving-kangchenjunga">Kangchenjunga</a>, the world’s third-highest peak, has spiked attention to the need to balance mountaineering jobs with indigenous reverence for sacred landmarks. Kangchenjunga (8,586m) is not a peak as much as it is a mountain range with 16 peaks above 7,000m on the border between India and Nepal -- the word itself means ‘five treasures of the snows’ in Tibetan. Some of the highest prominences like Kangchenjunga West and Kangbachen are in Nepal, while the Main, Central and South Peaks are on the border. Climbing the peak from the Indian side has been banned since 2001 because the indigenous Lepcha community there regard the mountain as the abode of Dzoe-nga, the patron deity of Sikkim, which was an independent Himalayan Kingdom until it was annexed by India in 1975.&nbsp; Buddhists in Sikkim say their saint, Padmasambhava, recognised the mountain as a protective spirit. The state has declared the base of the mountain Kangchenjunga National Park, which covers an area one-third of Sikkim. ‘The act of scaling this sacred peak is not only a matter of serious concern but also a violation of both the prevailing legal provisions and the deeply held religious beliefs of the people of Sikkim,’ read a letter from Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang (Golay) to Amit Shah, India’s Minister of Home Affairs and Cooperation.&nbsp; Tamang continued: ‘We further request Your Honour to take up the issue with the Government of Nepal to ensure that no future expeditions are permitted on the sacred mountain, in deference to the deeply held beliefs and cultural values of the people of Sikkim.’ Kangchenjunga was climbed for the first time exactly 70 years ago by a British team who told King Tashi Namgyal, the Choegyal of Sikkim, that they would not set foot on the summit. Since then, there have been about 532 successful climbs of the peaks and 52 have died while trying.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250628060616_5c268e08cf49f36b79ef9b31933fc2d9bf9a6f65414e7ca06dd028bf04e7ccc1.png" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20250628060616_5c268e08cf49f36b79ef9b31933fc2d9bf9a6f65414e7ca06dd028bf04e7ccc1" data-rendition-name="original" width="1782" height="1178" loading="lazy" alt="Kangchenjunga: too sacred to climb NT"> <figcaption>Indigenous communities in Sikkim held purification ceremonies following the Indian expedition to Kangchenjunga. Photo: THE VOICE OF SIKKIM / FACEBOOK</figcaption> </figure>  <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/peak-climbing-season-2025-s4abrxny">This spring climbing season</a> alone, there were 70 climbing permits for foreigners issued for Kangchenjunga by the Nepal government, and made it to the top while one French climber died.&nbsp; One of the expeditions this year was an Indian Army team led by Col Ranveer Jamwal, who has summited the highest peaks on all seven continents, and Mt Everest thrice. Jamwal’s team was on the final leg of a ‘<a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/nimas-summits-mt-kangchenjunga-concludes-historic-har-shikhar-tiranga-mission-successfully/articleshow/121341315.cms?from=mdr">Har Shikhar Tiranga</a>’ (The Tricolour on Every Peak) mission to plant the Indian flag at the highest points of each of India’s 28 states. Kanchenjunga was the last peak they had left, and the hardest, but the expedition put five climbers on the summit. What seems to have incensed the Sikkimese is that while it has banned climbing the mountain from its side, it was an Indian military expedition that went to Nepal to climb the mountain. After news broke of the climb in May, the Sikkim Indigenous Lepcha Tribal Association asked people to observe purification ceremonies in temples across the state. Mayalmit Lepcha of the association acknowledged that the Sikkim government was also partly at fault: “I don’t think such an expedition could have gone forward without the state government being informed, so it could have done something to intervene. It shows weakness. What’s done is done, all we can do is carry out these sanctification ceremonies.”&nbsp; In 2000, one year before Sikkim’s ban, the state allowed an Austrian team to attempt Kanchenjunga’s northeast face for a fee of $20,000, on agreement that they would stop 10m before the summit. Despite this, there was outrage over the expedition on the grounds that it violated Indian laws regarding the defiling of religious sites and Sikkim’s rights to maintain its culture after merging with India. The Indian Army expedition was also seen to have circumvented Sikkim’s law and violated religious sensibilities by going through Nepal. While the team may have thought they were respecting Sikkim’s beliefs by finding a way to complete the mission, the people of Sikkim saw it as defilement.&nbsp; The somber mood of the Sikkim people at the ritual contrasts sharply with Jamwal’s sense of accomplishment. “Without a doubt, the most difficult summit of my life,” he told reporters after the climb. “It tested every ounce of our will.”&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250628060616_ccfe079c78dab788d19fe2080ee8a5d5dcb11de4157316f6d94e5964da097157.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20250628060616_ccfe079c78dab788d19fe2080ee8a5d5dcb11de4157316f6d94e5964da097157" data-rendition-name="original" width="787" height="377" loading="lazy" alt="Kangchenjunga: too sacred to climb NT"> <figcaption>Prayer flags along the Sikkim-Kangchenjunga trekking route. Photo: TREKKINGININDIA.COM</figcaption> </figure>  The <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-rise-and-fall-of-nims-purja">controversial Nepali-British mountaineer Nirmal Purja</a> was also on Kangchenjunga this spring the mountain, on a mission to summit all 14 8,000m peaks for a third time. He echoed Jamwal about the tough conditions: “The conditions above camp were extremely tough, with deep snow and challenging terrain—more crevasses than usual.” Nepal’s government has not said anything publicly, but it is unlikely that it will ban climbing on Kangchenjunga, since it is becoming popular with expeditions because of its technical challenges, and overcrowding on Mt Everest. Nepal does have bans in place for some of its mountains out of respect for local beliefs. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/to-open-machapuchre-for-mountaineering-or-not">Mt Machapuchre</a> (6,990m) the imposing pyramid that looms over Pokhara, for example, is seen as an icon of purity by the Gurung people and a symbol of Vishnu by the Hindu communities who live at its base. A strict climbing ban has been in place since 1957, when a British expedition led by Col Jimmy Roberts stopped 45m short of the summit – either because the last bit was too difficult or out of deference to local sentiments.&nbsp; Khumbila that stands above Namche Bazar is only 5,761m high, but like Kanchenjunga is considered the protector deity of the Sherpa people. Gauri Shankar on the Nepal-China border, called Chomo Tseringma by the local community, was off-limits between 1965 and 1979 due to its association with Lord Shiva and Gauri, his consort. Although expeditions are now allowed, there are not too many takers. In Tibet, climbing Mount Kailash is prohibited by the Chinese government because it revered by the Hindus, Buddhists and followers of the Bon faith. Even Mt Everest is regarded as sacred, and its Sherpa name is Chomolungma, Goddess Mother of the Earth.&nbsp; Economically, climbs on Kanchenjunga bring in decent revenue. This climbing season, the 41 permits, at $1,800 each, brought in $73,800. This is somewhat comparable to Makalu, Lhotse, and Annapurna I, but these numbers are dwarfed by the $4 million in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-everest-industry">Everest permits</a>. Revenue from Kanchenjunga climbing permits is something Nepal could potentially forgo if necessary, but the expeditions also provide jobs to hundreds of high altitude guides, porters, base camp support staff and other logistical costs.&nbsp; As the third highest mountain in the world and the tallest in India, there will always be significant motivation to climb it from the Nepal side, especially as climbers are drawn by the technical climbing at high altitude.

Kangchenjunga: too sacred to climb?

The debate about who is less accountable to the public: politicians or bureaucrats is as old as Nepal’s democracy itself.
Some blame politicians for being beholden to the businessmen who finance their electoral campaigns, and are forced to return the favour with contracts and kickbacks when in power.&nbsp;
Others say it is civil servants who are neither civil nor servants, and know the inner workings of the system to exploit loopholes – they then teach ministers, MPs, mayors, or ward chairs which juicy projects can be squeezed. And everyone gets their share.
In reality, it is probably not a case of either, or. Both have their hands deep in the honey pot. Corruption is now such a given that yet another exposé in the mainstream press, like the latest visit-visa scam, does not raise eyebrows anymore.
We may have to edit Lord Acton’s famous quote to say that in Nepal we do not even need absolute power to corrupt absolutely. The ruling cartel has divvied up the spoils, so that no one ever faces charges. The three parties all know about the skeletons rattling in each other’s closets, and they cancel each other out.
Politicians and bureaucrats get all the blame for taking bribes, but what of the givers of bribes? In this crony capitalism, businesses invariably need political patrons in an elaborate <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-only-growth-industry-private-sector-corruption" target="_blank">national network of give-and-take</a>.
<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-only-growth-industry-private-sector-corruption" target="_blank">Politicians and businesses work hand-in-glove</a> so that conflict of interest in contracts, insider trading, cartelling, and non-performing assets of banks become the norm. Our survey after the 2017 local election showed that out of the 753 newly-elected local government chairs, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/elected-contractors" target="_blank">nearly 300 were contractors</a> involved in sand-mining, quarrying, or transportation syndicates.
Nepal’s tycoons have discovered that instead of donating to election war chests of politicians, it is a much surer return on investment to spend the money to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-business-of-politics-in-nepal" target="_blank">become legislators and politicians themselves</a>.
In democracies, there are checks and balances to control corruption when it becomes endemic. The Nepal Police and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) are supposed to do the detective work without political interference. The courts are required to be independent in dispensing justice and punishing crooks.
But the less said about the judiciary the better. A writ petition in the Supreme Court last week accused our sister magazine <a href="https://www.himalkhabar.com/" target="_blank">HimalKhabar</a> of contempt of court for two stories: one about how high courts have been overturning a majority of verdicts of district courts in cases of rape, and another about the Biratnagar High Court clearing a self-proclaimed holy man, Krishna Bahadur Giri, of rape despite police presenting physical evidence.
The doctrine of the separation of powers stipulates that it is when the other three pillars in a democracy are compromised that the role of the free press becomes even more vital. The world over, as soon as populist autocrats are elected to the executive, their first order of business is to co-opt the legislature and the judiciary. Then they buy off, intimidate, or neutralise the media with Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP).
Nepal’s officialdom seems to be taking midnight Zoom lessons from other despots on how to gag the media. Last month, popular talk show host Dil Bhushan Pathak was served an arrest warrant by the Kathmandu District Court for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CntsnTrtG8" target="_blank">a YouTube explainer</a> about the alleged involvement of the son of Foreign Minister Arzu Deuba Rana in a reported purchase of Kathmandu’s Hilton Hotel.
The Lalitpur District Court ruled that Pathak could not be arrested without fair trial, but this week the Kathmandu District Court filed another case against the journalist based on a complaint by the Cyber Bureau, and put him on a fugitive list.&nbsp;
Without going into the veracity of Pathak’s explainer, it is deeply problematic that the Electronic Transaction Act has been invoked – proof that politicians are getting the courts and investigating agencies to make an example of a high profile journalist.&nbsp;
The intention is to silence media investigations into the fake refugee scandal in which the main partner in the ruling coalition is implicated, and in which one of its former home ministers was jailed last year.
The Kathmandu High Court has been mysteriously active in targeting journalists these days. <a href="https://bizmandu.com/" target="_blank">Bizmandu</a> and <a href="https://nepalkhabar.com/" target="_blank">Nepalkhabar</a> were served a notice last month <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/no-freedom-after-expression-y4inku06" target="_blank">to withdraw a story they did</a> on the Chair of the <a href="https://www.sebon.gov.np/" target="_blank">Security and Exchange Board of Nepal (SEBON</a>) Santosh Narayan Shrestha allegedly demanding kickbacks from hydropower investors.&nbsp;
Incredibly, the court even asked the two portals not to report on the subject anymore – a ruling so absurd that the Patan High Court overturned it a week later.&nbsp;
The allegations against Shrestha were made in a public meeting of the <a href="https://www.ippan.org.np/members/3060/bungal-hydro-ltd" target="_blank">Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal (IPPAN)</a>, and MPs demanded a <a href="https://myrepublica.nagariknetwork.com/news/parliament-demands-probe-into-sebon-chairman-over-alleged-commission-demand-40-32.html" target="_blank">Parliament inquiry</a> into the regulator. <a href="https://www.himalkhabar.com/144523/santosh-narayan-shrestha" target="_blank">HimalKhabar</a> reported this week that while Shrestha was reportedly demanding commissions from private investors for IPOs, he cleared primary share sales in Bajhang’s 10.75MW <a href="https://www.ippan.org.np/members/3060/bungal-hydro-ltd" target="_blank">Bungal Hydro</a> in which his family members have investments, company records show.
And then just on Monday, bureaucrats hoodwinked MPs by deleting references in a bill requiring a two-year ‘cooling off’ period under which retiring civil servants could be barred from holding constitutional positions for two years.
The contest for who is more corrupt: bureauacrats, politicians, or the private sector is on.
Kunda Dixit

SLAPPing Democracy

In 2023, northern India suffered record-breaking heat. In 2024, it broke its own record. In 2025, the Indo-Gangetic plains and the Nepal Tarai suffered a prolonged pre-monsoon heat wave and humidity, forcing closure of schools and workplaces. This week, <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/europe-heat-wave-intensifies-as-fresh-warnings-issued/live-73108302">southern Europe is suffering the worst heat wave</a> since temperature records began. Football matches, tennis tournaments have been affected, and tourist sites have been closed off. Qatar has ordered a midday work curfew for Nepali and other migrant workers are the maximum temperature this week touched 45°C.&nbsp; Kathmandu Valley experienced its highest temperature in 25 years in May 2024 at 35.3°C. This year, the maximum temperature exceeded 30°C on many days — heat that till a decade ago would be considered unusual. Rains in early June also meant that towns in the mountains sweltered under high heat plus humidity.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250703090748_6975cfc2ad573f3a09ca301a299a9e92a420da7f1c5c90b8e4d061a2053dcd3e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20250703090748_6975cfc2ad573f3a09ca301a299a9e92a420da7f1c5c90b8e4d061a2053dcd3e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1935" height="801" loading="lazy" alt="maximum average temperature in Kathmandu"> <figcaption>Source: DHM</figcaption> </figure>  Measuring just temperature does not give a true picture of how hot it is. When humidity is factored in, the heat index this summer has been much higher in northern India and Nepal. Also, the hotter the air temperature the higher the concentration of water vapour in it. “We feel it is getting hotter, and our statistics back that up,” says Shanti Kandel at the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, which issued two heat wave warnings this year, compared to 11 last year. “We need more research to analyse how humidity is make this situation worse.” <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/india-faces-alarming-30-rise-in-moist-heat-stress-over-40-years-affecting-wide-swath-of-country-imd-study/articleshow/109376863.cms?from=mdr">A recent analysis</a> by the Indian Meteorological Department has found that heat stress in that country has increased by nearly 30% over the past 40 years. Similarly, India’s Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) noted that cities like Delhi, Chandigarh, Jaipur, and Lucknow have experienced a 6-9% rise in relative humidity in the last decade.&nbsp; It also states that <a href="https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/majority-indian-districts-face-high-heatwave-risk-study-shows-2025-05-20/#:~:text=%22About%2057%20per%20cent%20of,usual%20number%20of%20heatwave%20days.">60% of Indian districts</a>, home to three-quarters of the country’s 1.3 billion people face a high to very high risk from extreme heat, with rising night-time temperatures and humidity. The heat index is also called ‘<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/north-indian-heat-wave-hits-nepal">wet-bulb temperature</a>’ and is a measure of how hot the human body feels when humidity levels are also high — usually much hotter than the recorded temperature. For example, a wet-bulb temperature of 35°C is considered the maximum limit of heat and humidity that humans can handle, beyond which the body cannot cool by perspiration, leading to death. One indicator of increasing humidity is a rise in average minimum temperature, and Nepal recorded the highest figure since 1981 last year, with a peak of 15.8°C. Higher minimum temperature denotes warmer nights, which in turn is an indication of heat stress caused by increasing humidity, which in turn is a result of global warming. Aside from higher average temperatures worldwide this year, what makes heat and humidity more unbearable is that cities are always hotter than their surroundings. This is due to the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/preparing-for-kathmandu-s-heat-waves">urban heat island (UHI) effect</a> – for example the temperature inside Kathmandu’s Ring Road can be hotter by <a href="https://www.epa.gov/heatislands/what-are-heat-islands">up to 4°C during the daytime and by 1 to 3°C in the evening</a> compared to the outskirts. “Climate change is one reason for rising temperature, but there are other factors like increased heat in urban spaces due to concrete buildings and infrastructure, emissions from vehicles, industries, and home appliances,” explains urban planner Bhushan Tuladhar. He adds: “Much of this comes down to how we have developed our cities, not just our roads and buildings but also our water system, waste management, culture and customs as well as economy.” There is a feedback loop at work: as it gets hotter, more energy is used for fans, coolers, and air-conditioners which in turn add to the urban heat bubble. The way to reduce the UHI effect is to have more parks, tree-lined streets and water bodies to cool cities down.&nbsp; <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2212095525002093">A recent study published in the journal Urban Climate</a> by Nepali researchers at the University of Massachusetts, Tribhuvan University, University of Groningen, etc showed that even within Kathmandu, urban forests cooled neighbourhoods by as much as 1.2°C while ponds reduced the temperature by up to 0.85°C compared to nearby houses.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250703090748_e4de75dbdfb5fcfdeb0935eda364dc16b5dca8857ba335ab0f4586ebdc5093a9.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20250703090748_e4de75dbdfb5fcfdeb0935eda364dc16b5dca8857ba335ab0f4586ebdc5093a9" data-rendition-name="original" width="2580" height="1038" loading="lazy" alt="urban heat island in Kathmandu"> <figcaption>Source: URBAN CLIMATE et al.</figcaption> </figure>  ‘Our results demonstrate that blue-green spaces provide significant cooling benefits across the Kathmandu Valley, with distinct patterns by type, size, design, and urban context,’ concluded the paper, whose lead author is Saurav Bhattarai at Jackson State University in the United States. The old towns in Kathmandu Valley with traditional brick and tile architecture, ponds and trees managed hot summers better. Compact houses around a courtyard gave people just the right amount of sunlight, and use of clay mortar and bricks insulated houses in winter while cooling them in summer. There were open spaces, fertile land along the floodplains for farming, and brick pavements that allowed for seepage. “Our cities were planned taking nature into account,” says Sangeeta Singh, a professor of urban planning at the Institute of Engineering. “Kathmandu Valley is now built up, but we can still reintegrate blue-blue spaces into town planning with vertical gardening, urban forestry, using local material and harvesting rainwater.”&nbsp; Kathmandu’s municipalities have by-laws controlling building design and structure, but strict enforcement of land use and zoning are missing. Extreme heat disproportionately affects the urban poor who may not have access to fans or air-conditioners, exacerbating poverty.&nbsp; Cities in the plains have it even worse. As heat and humidity rise simultaneously, it could <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/garmi-se-behal-chalo-nepal">reverse the current mass migration</a> of people from the mountains to the Tarai, where 53% of Nepal’s population lives. <a href="https://thedocs.worldbank.org/en/doc/92fbbbc6180238e18e7b239fad83e38a-0280032024/original/12-DHNT-Temperature-poverty-inequality-September-2024.pdf">A World Bank study</a> put the cost of a 1°C rise in temperature at 17.1% increase in poverty globally. Estimates put the total number of urban poor in developing countries exposed to the worst heat extremes at 26 million presently, this number is bound to grow to 215 million by mid-century, an over eight-fold increase. Meanwhile, 489,000 health-related deaths occur each year, 45% of them in Asia alone. “Heat has to be seen from a class perspective,” says Singh. “Those with money can afford gadgets and appliances to keep their homes and offices cool, but not day labourers or poor families living in cramped housing with poor ventilation.” Climate breakdown is going to widen the class divide in cities, as <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/unthinkable-in-the-current-climate">summers become unliveable</a>. Says Singh: “We need policy intervention to address this class injustice. Our building by-laws and new town development must urgently integrate climate and energy efficiency elements.”

In the heat of the moment

She made <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/mira-rai-trail-running,1776" target="_blank">headlines in 2014</a>: a young woman from the mountains of eastern Nepal had just won the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/mira-rai-trail-running,1776" target="_blank">50km Himalayan Outdoor</a> trail race. <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/mira-rai-trail-running-nepa,2014" target="_blank">Mira Rai </a>was 23 then, the only Nepali female in the race. She had no training, no proper shoes, just a cotton t-shirt and shorts, and did not even know what trail running was. Two months later, helped by organisers who saw her talent, she won three more international trail races. Mira Rai has been running all her life. She grew up running up and down from her village to the market town in Hile across the Arun River, carrying sacks of salt or rice with her mother. The farm did not grow enough food to feed her five siblings.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250704130720_e5da28789a551276269846e379c971d7dfd185a08dd05b271281f1bfc3d45fe8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20250704130720_e5da28789a551276269846e379c971d7dfd185a08dd05b271281f1bfc3d45fe8" data-rendition-name="original" width="1192" height="1386" loading="lazy" alt="Mira Rai"> </figure>  At age 12, Mira was already carrying 12kg on her back, while her mother carried 60kg on the two-day roundtrip from Bhojpur to Dhankuta. One day in 2004, while carrying rice on the trail she was caught up in a Maoist ambush of a Royal Nepal Army patrol. She escaped as bullets whizzed by.&nbsp; At 14, she became a child soldier for the Maoist militia. Although she did not see action, after the ceasefire in 2006 she was sent with other guerrillas to the demobilisation camp in Sindhuli. There was not much to do at camp, and she excelled in running, taking part in the 5 and 10km marathons in the National Sports Championship. But because she was still 17, and a minor she was ‘disqualified’ by UNMIN peacekeepers, and went on to finish high school.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250704130716_ea2110a27490f529bb6081da1f6cf5922caa6280d36770bfa534f1b657f3638d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20250704130716_ea2110a27490f529bb6081da1f6cf5922caa6280d36770bfa534f1b657f3638d" data-rendition-name="original" width="1605" height="1050" loading="lazy" alt="Mira Rai"> </figure>  Today, ten years after winning her first race and being catapulted to fame, Nepal’s most famous runner is here in Colorado raising funds from sponsors all over the world for her <a href="https://miraraiinitiative.org/" target="_blank">Mira Rai Initiative</a>, earning money on the side, and running every weekend on trails in the Rockies.&nbsp; In 2020, grounded by the lockdowns and while recovering from a knee injury, she led anti-pollution drives in Kathmandu and launched the Mira Rai Initiative <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/mira-rai-racing-to-help-other-runners/" target="_blank">helping other youngsters in athletics</a>. The program trains up to six Nepali trail runners a year, which from November will be conducted from her new Training Centre on the outskirts of Kathmandu. Among runners she has trained in the past are <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/sunmaya-budha-stays-in-the-running" target="_blank">Sunmaya Budha</a> and Humi Budha Magar, who have gone on to win in international trail running championships. “First I ran with my mother to support the family, then I ran for my country, now I run for myself and others like me,” Rai told us from across the table at a Nepali restaurant in Denver. &nbsp; Trophies have followed <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Buzz-run-maya-run,522" target="_blank">Mira Rai wherever she runs</a>. She won gold medals in the 180km Mustang Trail Race, the 56km <a href="https://www.visittrentino.info/en/guide/what-to-do/events/dolomyths-run-sellaronda-ultra-trail_e_49388311" target="_blank">Selloronda Ultra Trail</a> in Italy in 6 hours 36 minutes and 30 seconds, and came second in the 83km <a href="https://www.vivereilgrappa.it/en/events-schedule/trail-of-the-heroes-2018-edition.htm" target="_blank">Trail of Heroes</a> also in Italy in 9 hours and 16 minutes.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250704130720_4327e578886d24115461e3c9bfd01804349e657faabd62fd5c34baf9bbbccb9a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_11" data-image-id="20250704130720_4327e578886d24115461e3c9bfd01804349e657faabd62fd5c34baf9bbbccb9a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1118" height="1672" loading="lazy" alt="Mira rai"> </figure>  She came first in the Hong Kong 50km <a href="https://hkaaa.com/en/comp_details.php?id=258" target="_blank">MSJK HK </a>ultra race and won a silver in the Kings of the Hills. In 2015, just after the earthquake back home, she won the <a href="https://www.redbull.com/gb-en/theredbulletin/mira-rai-interview" target="_blank">Mont Blanc Sky Race</a>, and held up the Nepal flag as she broke the record.&nbsp; In 2017 she won gold again in the 120km <a href="http://www.bennevisrace.co.uk/" target="_blank">Ben Nevis Race</a> on Britain’s highest hill in 14 hours 24 minutes, a new record. That same year, she was also selected to be the National Geographic Adventurer of the Year. A documentary about her, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23k0IjToo0A" target="_blank">Mira</a>, was shown to much acclaim at the Banff and Vancouver film festivals, and she is featured in the Lily Dyu book Fantastic Female Adventurers.