Dharmarajika Nikkyo Niwano Clinic:

The Dharmarajika Nikkyo Niwano Clinic was established in 1978 and formally inaugurated by the Prime Minister of the Government in September 1996. It is situated on the premises of the Monastery complex between the schools and the boys dormitories.
This clinic represents a non-profit voluntary socio-medical service organization that is registered and licensed with the Ministry of social Welfare under the "Welfare under Society Act". The clinic also subscribes to the ULMA-ATA declaration made by WHO and UNICEF for achieving "Health for all by the year 2000".
The building for this clinic comprises a two-storied structure with the capacity and facility for running a 25-bed hospital. The importance of this clinic and is that it is located between 30 and 60 minutes away from the nearest medical center. Thus, it provides a strategic location for those seeking services in an undeserved area. The staff presently working at the clinic includes; two doctors, two nurses, an administrative officer and 4 ward personnel. There is also one nurse who is on-call 24 hours a day.
At present, the clinic is being run on an outpatient basis. In addition to providing medical care for the orphans, this facility is open to the surrounding community from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m., seven days per week. The services offered include:- general curative, pediatrics, and obstetrics/gynecology (Fridays). In the future, the Monastery hopes to expand the clinic to include more sophisticated services such as ultrasound and x-ray (the clinic has a machine but it is presently in need or repair). We are also considering providing limited inpatient services. This plan, however, will only be considered after the clinic has become more self-reliant.
To cover some of the recurrent costs, fees are paid by the patients on a sliding scale – those who are willing and able to pay are charged the full amount, while those who are unable to pay are given the service free. The registration card is sold to each client at cost.

Future plans:

In an effort to reduce the financial burden of running an outpatient clinic, the Monastery is looking at different options, including:-

• Developing a revolving drug fund that will provide medicines at a rate that is below the market price. The idea is to receive one large consignment of drugs, and then to sell them at a reduced price, thus using this revenue to maintain the stock levels. This will help the clinic to become more sustainable;
• Getting NGO's in the area to use the clinic as a referral site for different services: immunization, treatment of acute respiratory infections and diahreal diseases, etc. As part of this arrangement, we would request that the NGO help us with some minimal resources to cover the cost of these services;
• Developing an adolescent support program that would allow a donor/NGO to use the Dharmarajika Complex to address the needs of the adolescent populations. With nearly 30 million adolescents in Bangladesh, this particular population group is receiving more attention from potential donors. We feel that we can develop an integrated health program for this target group for which resources could be sought;
• Developing our ability to provide more sophisticated services (lab tests, X-ray, ultrasound) so that these could be provided at a higher rate to help subsidize the other services offered by the clinic. This cross subsidization would help the clinic to become more self-reliant; and
• Continuing to seek donor support from organizations that feel that the work we are doing is important and worth investing in. Once again, we would welcome either large or small grants from interested groups – any amount would be greatly appreciated.