Mountain medics

By Emma Sun
A TEAM of doctors and nurses from Casey Hospital recently returned from a 38 day medical trip to Nepal.
Five doctors and five nurses split their time between Everest Base Camp and a village called Swanta, where the team set up a medical clinic for villagers.
Nurse Paul Rumpff said the team had been looking forward to the trip, which had taken two years to plan, and didn’t know what to expect.
“We were a bit apprehensive as to whether people would actually come to the clinic – it had been advertised through local contacts but we had no idea as to the response,” he said.
“We saw 433 people through the clinic in 10 days. In hindsight, we were really pleased that so many people had actually come.”
Their work at Everest Base Camp consisted mainly of attending to locals and tourists and the change in setting provided a different experience for everyone involved.
“It was essentially a tent and it was fairly basic – staffed by volunteer doctors and only operates during climbing seasons,” Mr Rumpff said.
“They very much rely on chopper service if they’ve got anything serious.”
Consultant paediatrician Liz Allison said their time at Swanta allowed the medics to spend time with the Nepalese people and learn about their way of life.
“Meeting the Nepalese people and being able to do something to help them and experience a different culture was fantastic,” she said.
“A lot of the people had not had any access to medical facilities for a long time so being able to help those people was great and also I was struck by how happy, welcoming and generous these people were.
“There was an incredibly beautiful setting as well – the village was very green and all around us we had the backdrop of the snow covered Himalayas.”
Mr Rumpff and Ms Allison said they would volunteer again if given the opportunity.
“There are certainly plans to go back – we’d like to keep a regular clinic service up, we’re working on how that’s going to happen as well,” Mr Rumpss said.
“I would recommend it to my colleagues, to other doctors and nurses who might be thinking of doing something similar,” Ms Allison said.