KATHMANDU — They may not have many possessions left after the earthquake, but at heart, the villagers living in the remote areas in Gokarna had plenty.

Seeing members of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) medical team sitting on the ground, they shared with them pieces of cardboard. They even offered their limited supplies of food and drinks.

Their kind gestures left the deepest impression on Colonel Lim Kwang Tang as he and his 15-man team wound down operations of their mobile clinic at the 1,500-year-old Gokarna Mahadev temple, located 10km north-east of Kathmandu.

Nine days ago, they set up the clinic and, together with a team of doctors and nurses from Singapore’s Ministry of Health, have to date visited remote rural areas to bring medical relief to those unable to travel far, such as the elderly and the immobile.

The team also had a group of special helpers — the daughters of retired Gurkhas who once served in Singapore — who acted as translators.

Former nurse Anita Rai, 23, and two other friends also helped with translations over the past four days. Since they were unable to provide medical supplies or basic necessities, helping with translations was the least they could do, she said.

On the decision to wind down operations, Col Lim said “some form of normalcy” had returned to the lives of the Nepalese. “One of the obvious signs is that shops are open again, things have stabilised and what we call the ‘disaster relief phase’ is over,” he said.

More importantly, the number of patients with earthquake-related trauma has fallen, he added.

The first few days after the earthquake, the team saw patients who had fractures, acute diarrhoea and fever. Subsequently, they treated patients other long-standing chronic conditions, such as hypertension and upper respiratory tract infections.

Though they were had been assigned to set up in Sankhu, the SAF team decided to put up its clinic in Gokarna instead after its advance team saw that three other medical teams were already in Sankhu. “I thought it was a good decision ... Based on the number of patients we have seen over the last nine days, I think it indicates that this is one of the very ideal gaps that we are filling,” said Col Lim.

To date, more than 2,650 patients have been treated by his team.

Among the patients who visited the team’s mobile clinic was 65-year-old Padma Panta, who later brought her mother, brother and sister along to seek help. “It is good that the (team) was here. I’m thankful that the Singapore army came,” she said.

In a Facebook post today (May 8), Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen paid tribute to the SAF teams in Nepal. “Despite the hard work and tough conditions, the SAF personnel there are in high spirits because they know we are making a difference to individual lives,” he said. “Our SAF teams have done well. We are proud of them for their selfless work in helping our Nepalese friends. Our thoughts remain with the Nepalese as they start to rebuild their lives.”

Reflecting on the mission, Col Lim said the biggest challenge was getting accurate details on what were needed on the ground when different sources were giving conflicting information. For instance, contrary to requests from the local military, the international community had asked for more surgical teams to be sent to Nepal. “This is where the ground commander, like us, and the needs assessment team down here can give an accurate assessment, because we have direct access to people on the ground and they give us more precise information,” he said.