A Pilot Project of Accessible Communication Support for Hard of Hearing Patients in Kathmandu Hospital is being implemented by SHRUTI and ZENNANCHO under the financial support of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The goal of the project is to establish communication support services for hard-of-hearing patients in the ENT Department of Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital. The main outputs of the project are to develop communication support tools and manual for Nepali HoH persons; implement sustainable communication support between HoH people and the hospital staff; widen the understanding of the communication support model in other hospitals of Kathmandu.

In May and Jun 2022, SHRUTI and ZENNANCHO successfully completed 5-days remote training for the accessibility of hard-of-hearing patients in hospitals. Four trainees of SHRUTI and two trainees of TUTH participated in the remote training provided by the different Japanese professionals. The Nepali trainees gained lots of knowledge of the accessibility needs of hard-of-hearing patients in the hospitals and are able to observe the situation of the hospital and develop a communication support tool and manual to fit in the context of Nepal.

The project has been started in January 2022 and will be implemented for three years, till Dec 2024. It is expected that at the end of the project, the TUTH will have its own communication tool and manual and will be able to provide sustainable accessible communication support to its hearing loss patients.