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 our 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 have 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 health, improve health outcomes and change lives, one life at a time.
How do we do it? We fund specific aspects of MeRO’s work. We fund the salaries of MeRO’s clinical staff through our Nurse and Physiotherapist sponsorship programs – three nurses and a physiotherapist – to ensure that patients who need it, receive around the clock nursing care, and physiotherapy six days a week.
We pay the initial AU$300/US$200 of patient’s medical costs and provide additional funds for people when and as required. This is usually sufficient to secure a diagnosis and start their medical journey.
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 is currently set at AU$500/ US$350 a month .
We also work with MeRO to strenthen best practice and good governance and 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 multi-dimensional poverty, meaning they simultaneously experience multiple disadvantages as a consequence of being poor.
Most of MeRO’s patients live in rural and remote regions of Nepal where they face significant systemic and structural challenges. Environmental, political, economic and structural barriers exist that prevent, delay and restrict timely access to appropriate medical care.
Medical care is under-resourced, inadequately funded and hospitals are understaffed, resulting in the delivery of inadequate, inappropriate and delayed medical care. Specialist care and ancillary services are simply not an option in rural and remote regions, requiring travel to major cities. 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.