Our Story
In 2006 Kate Yarrow, a young UK doctor, was posted to western Nepal by the international aid organization Médecins Sans Frontières.
The only doctor in a small hospital perched on a mountainside and several days’ walk from a paved road, she experienced first-hand the desperate medical need of the isolated communities. The situation was exacerbated by the incredibly harsh mountain environment, political instability, and the poor economic status of the country. Her medical assistant, Lalit, dreamed of becoming a doctor to serve his community, but the training fees were far beyond the reach of his impoverished family. On returning to the UK, Kate vowed that, if he could gain a place at medical school, she would raise the funds to pay for Lalit's training. In this way she could make a lasting contribution to the health needs of his community. Lalit was accepted by Nepalgunj Medical School in Nepal. In 2011 DFN was registered as a UK charity, and set out to offer at least one new scholarship per year.
In 2012 Lalit graduated as DFN’s first doctor and, having worked in rural Nepal for four years, he continued his study with a postgraduate scholarship, working as a doctor in obstetrics and gynaecology at Cairo University, Egypt. He graduated as a consultant in 2021 and has returned to work in the remote areas of Nepal and as a specialist and ambassador for DFN. In November 2021 Lalit took up a position of obstetrics and gynaecology specialist at Surkhet Hospital, Karnali Province.
In 2016 the charity expanded its activities to include nursing students, and in 2019 to include midwifery students.