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In Nepal, where more than 7,500 people were killed and hundreds of thousands left homeless by the earthquake, therapeutic medical clowning is being used as an integrated component of care for adult and pediatric patients and their families.
Israel has sent a team of five medical clowns to Nepal to treat people who have developed trauma due to continuous tremors jolting the Himalayan nation and in the aftermath of the April 25 devastating earthquake.
Their purpose is to ease trauma effects and to reduce pain and anxiety among children and adults on communities and hospitals via their clowning skills, a press release issued by the Israel Embassy said.
Therapeutic medical clowning is used as an integrated component of care for adult and pediatric patients and their families. The medical clowns also benefit the community milieu by lightening the mood of healthcare providers and staff.
Israel government sent the team on May 3.
Studies have shown that having clowns in the operating room can ease anxiety -- at least among child patients. In an Italian study, clowns successfully distracted children aged five to 12 years while they were put under anaesthesia for surgery.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has pledged to gift 10,000 metric tonnes of rice and plenty of drinking water to Nepal as relief for the earthquake victims.
She has asked the authorities concerned to send rice and water to Nepal on an emergency basis, said an official.
