Medical team deployed to Solukhumbu, Manang for spring mountaineering season

KATHMANDU: A specialised 11-member medical team has been deployed to the Himalayan region to provide health check-ups and treatment for climbers and trekkers arriving during the spring mountaineering season, the Himalayan Rescue Association Nepal (HRA) said.

HRA has mobilised the team, which includes foreign and Nepali doctors, to major high-altitude areas such as Everest Base Camp and Pheriche in Solukhumbu District, as well as Manang District. The initiative aims to provide medical services and support to both domestic and international mountaineers and trekkers in high-altitude areas.

With the onset of this year’s spring season, the Association has dispatched a team comprising five foreign and two Nepali doctors, along with support staff. At Everest Base Camp, Australian doctor Samantha Allison Wills, Nepali doctor Prince Singh and support staff member Lakpa Norbu Sherpa have been deployed. At the Pheriche health post, Australian doctor Rebecca Allen Carpenter, American doctor Kaitlin Brooke Harper, Nepali doctor Aakriti Singh and support staff members Ang Dawa Sherpa and Thaneshwar Bhandari have been assigned. Likewise, at the Manang health post, American doctor Joseph Peter Mahoney, Australian doctor Ken-Tze Koh and support staff member Prakash Khatri have been mobilised, the Association said.

According to the HRA Chairman Damber Parajuli, temporary health posts have been set up at Everest Base Camp, Pheriche and Manang village to offer immediate medical attention to trekkers and mountaineers.

The Association has been setting up a health camp at Everest Base Camp since 2003, serving climbers, trekkers and support staff, while similar services have been available in Pheriche since 1973. It has been operating such camps in Manang since 1980 and in Gosaikunda since 1997.