THREE former soldiers of the famous Nepali Gurkha regiment have shared their stories with the NHS North East Hampshire and Farnham Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), to improve understanding of their culture and their experiences both at home in Nepal and in Britain.

Gary Ghale, Dambar Gurung and Badriman Gurung visited Aldershot Centre for Health to talk about their homeland, their culture, what motivated them to join the Royal Gurkha Rifles, their service history and what led to them moving to Britain following their retirement and their experience of living in the local community.

They work for different charities in Britain, including the Gurkha Welfare Trust, Rushmoor Healthy Living and Diabetes UK and they were joined by Nisha Tiwari Sharma, from Rushmoor Healthy Living.

Dr Andy Whitfield, clinical chairman at the CCG, said: “There are more retired Gurkhas and their families settled in this part of the country than any other and it is important that we get to know about their needs – as we do with all sections of our community.

“To do this we have to hear about the experiences of our local community’s health and well-being and have on-going conversations, through which we can get to know the Nepali community.

“We were honoured that these former Gurkhas were willing to share their personal stories with us. It was an eye-opening and humbling experience for CCG colleagues, who are extremely keen to build on this and learn even more about our Nepali neighbours, to ensure we can provide them with the health services they need, when they need them.”