When you live in the shadow of Mt Everest it makes it a bit of a giggle to see Pyramid Hill as anything but a pimple.
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When your idea of a recreational trek means spending a few days acclimatising to air, so oxygen depleted as to not support human life, then it really is something of a change if your current preparation means lacing up your shoes five minutes before you fly out the door.
In Nepal, your next-door-neighbour is Tibet, the country described as the roof of the world; here our next-door-neighbour is called NSW.
In Nepal, they have Bengal tigers, rhinoceros, and elephants — and crocs. Here it’s kangaroos, koalas, the odd wombat and bazillions of bunnies.
Nepal’s Chitwan Province is about 250km from its capital of Kathmandu; Echuca is about 230km from Victoria’s capital of Melbourne.
And that last line is about as close as anything gets to comparable reality in the remarkable new world of Prakash Adhikari, his wife Garima Pandey, his sister Suprabha and her husband Kshitij Thapa.
The trip for the four Nepalese from their home in the Himalayan foothills to their new life on the plains of the Murray River has been an amazing journey of love found, lives changed, worlds turned upside down and a bright, brave new future.
Making Echuca-Moama the winner because Prakash and Kshitij are both doctors and Garima and Suprabha are nurses — a family package custom-made for a town like ours. Literally, just what the doctor ordered.
Today Prakash is completing his final rotation on his way to achieving full Australian accreditation, Kshitij works four days a week at Echuca Moama Family Medical Practice and one day a week at ERH’s emergency department, and Suprabha and Garima are nurses — Suprabha with ERH and Garima in aged care at Wharparilla Lodge.
Kshitij had completed his studies, had been practising in Nepal and, like so many of his fellow medical graduates, had his eyes on a move to either the US or UK.
“I had one foot in the door in America, going through the preparation for my medical exams, when Suprabha, who had been living and working in Sydney since 2015, and I got married,” Kshitij said.
“Which is when she explained to me, we would be living in Australia, regardless of where I thought I might be going.”
It’s not as if the couple were strangers, they grew up in the same town, went to the same classes in the same school, and went to the same university — Tribhuvan in Kathmandu.
“I’d done my initial degree in Nepal and then came to Australia to do my masters,” Suprabha said.
“And I stayed, I really like the way it all worked here and really enjoyed it, and the system is much more professional from a nursing perspective — in Nepal if you work in a hospital, you might have two nurses caring for 50 patients on a shift, here it is more like one nurse for every six patients.
“But in Sydney, my job also meant a three-hour commute each day. In Echuca it is a three-minute walk.”
Kshitij says they initially dropped anchor in Echuca, not long before the COVID pandemic because it was the only job he could find once he was given the green light with his qualifications.
He says they had been applying for jobs “all over the place” and Echuca Regional Health was the first to offer him a position.
“At first we thought we would come here, do a year, and then head for Sydney, or Melbourne or even Geelong, to a big city,” he said.
“After the first year we didn’t seem to be in any hurry and thought we could stay a little longer.
“Now we have been here for a few years, we have bought a house, Suprabha is an Australian citizen (as of this year), I have permanent residency on my way to citizenship and Prakash is what we call a provisional permanent resident — so we will have to keep an eye on him.”
And it doesn’t stop there. Suprabha and Kshitij are also the proud parents of their Australian-born son Krishab, now 17 months old.
Suprabha left Nepal in 2015 and returned in 2017 – to marry Kshitij. Her next trip home wasn’t until 2022 – for the wedding of her brother.
When not armed with stethoscopes and scrubs, both doctors love doing a bit of trekking, something of a national pastime in Nepal, where about 17 per cent of the country is classified as plains, 400m-plus above sea level. Some 65 per cent is ‘hills’ and the last 15 per cent is the Himalayas.
They all have nothing but praise for the innovative Connecting the Docs program, a Loddon Mallee initiative which is a collaborative effort between acute and community health services designed to present a comprehensive and adaptable regional career opportunity.
It was set up in 2022 to provide personalised career pathways with a focused case management approach to ensure doctors connect with the right professional and personal networks.
“Gemma Bilardi, who has been instrumental in the program, has been such a great help for me, for us,” Kshitij said.
“She became my go-to person for just about everything and made me realise I was truly wanted here.”
Prakash, who started his Australian story in Adelaide, says he owes a big thank you to Dr David Hooper, who was pivotal in his time in Adelaide and who is now, amazingly, part of the ERH team here — and still lending him a hand.
“David has been so important for me, and now we are all here in Echuca, ERH has been so supportive, and having the senior doctors to turn to – in the hospital and in private practice – is an incredible plus,” he said.
Whether working as doctors or nurses, the Nepalese love the lifestyle, love the pay and conditions and love the (mostly) 9 to 5 careers. Although, Prakash is about to go on the hospital’s 24-hour roster as part of his training rotation.
It’s a long way from Nepal to northern Victoria, and both families have made some huge adjustments to their lives.
If there is one important thing missing it is access to a Hindu temple — the nearest is Bendigo.
As part of a small — but slowly growing — Nepalese community in the twin towns, they have developed a strong connection with other families who are now also homeowners here. But they all feel a little disconnected from their faith by distance.
“But Echuca has made us feel like we are at home,” they said.
“And we are happy to be here as long as Echuca wants us.”
To learn more about Connecting the Docs program, head to connectingthedocs.au
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