Roads to Rehab Nepal is a non-profit organisation registered with the Australian Charities & Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC). Our Australian Business Number (ABN) is 14 196 214 542. We have been working with our project partner organisation, Medical Rehabilitation Organisation (MeRO), since December 2016. 
We are also a member of a registered non-profit organisation called GlobalGiving who are based in the United States. They help fund our work through their matching funds initiatives and provide a crowdfunding platform for grassroots charitable projects like ours.
What do we do: We work with a project partner organisation, Medical Rehabilitation Organisation (MeRO). Together we fund and facilitate medical and surgical intervention, nursing care, physiotherapy and rehabilitation services for patients referred to MeRO’s Shelter, all of whom arrive with life-changing illness or injury and cannot access medical care due to poverty. 
Both organisations believe that universal access to health and medical care should be a basic human right regardless of income, age, gender, caste, religion, place of residence or geographical location. Together, we advance patient health outcomes by funding specific aspects of MeRO’s work.
How do we do it?
- We fund the wages of MeRO’s clinical staff through our Nurse and Physiotherapist Sponsorship Programs which pays the wages of MeRO’s three nurses and a physiotherapist. We also pay the part-time wage of a practice manager.
- We provide a regular monthly amount of money to MeRO which helps ensure that all patients receive essential medications, medical, nursing and physiotherapy equipment and supplies for the duration of the patient’s hospital and Shelter stay. This amount varies from year to year according to the health of our finances and ranges from US$350/AU$500 to US$750/AU$1000 a month .
- We fund the first US$200/AU$300 of medical costs for patients referred to MeRO which is usually sufficient to secure a diagnosis and start their medical journey. We also fund additional medical costs for specific patients as required.
This includes paying the costs of ongoing medical care for women with obstetric fistula who are referred to MeRO’s Shelter, even if the surgery is not directly related to their obstetric injury. - We provide friendship, support, mentoring and work with MeRO to strenthen best practice and good governance.
- We facilitate ongoing professional development for MeRO’s clinical staff.
Why are we needed? Medical care is not free in Nepal and a fifth of the population live in poverty. Many people in Nepal do not have timely access to emergency departments, quality medical care or rehabilitation services for a multitude of complex reasons. The main ones are poverty and because they live in rural or remote locations. Nepal is also considered to be one of the most expensive countries in Asia in terms of medical care which comes with a hefty price tag which many cannot afford.
About our Management Committee: Our Management Committee is based in Canberra, Australia and is comprised of five multi-talented individuals. Virginia, Sue and Ingrid are registered nurses, Paul has a commerce degree and retired after many years of working in the Australian Taxation Office and Denise has a background in media, psychology and accounting and is a Certified Practising Accountant. Virginia, Paul, Sue and Ingrid have all spent time in Nepal.
Virginia is the founding Trustee of Roads to Rehab Nepal and has a multitude of roles within the organisation. Paul is our Treasurer. Sue is a General Management Committee Member and Nurse Educator. Ingrid is a General Committee Member and Denise is Assistant Treasurer. We are sometimes assisted by skilled volunteers who may not be Management Committee members but simply help us with things which we cannot do ourselves.
At Roads to Rehab Nepal, the extent of what 
we can achieve is dependent solely on donations. Our support to MeRO is only possible because of amazingly generous people who care about humanity, disability, inequality, lack of access to health and medical care, and the challenges faced by people living in Nepal in being able to access a complex and often corrupt medical system.
There are many ways you can help us change the lives of MeRO’s patients and their families and help rebuild their future. Explore our website, read our stories, visit our Facebook page, flick through our newsletters and annual reports and travel with us down patients often long roads to rehabilitation. If you like what we do, making a donation will help change their world.
Please not that we are not a tax-deductible organisation in Australia. Our ‘Donate Now’ page explains more.