Climbers on Everest can now avail free online health advice

Mountaineers are set to receive free online medical advice while scaling the world's tallest peak Mount Everest, with a firm providing the facility of connecting a climber to a doctor.
With the availability of WiFi along the way from Lukla up to the Everest base camp, an internet service provider working in the remote mountain region of Nepal is offering a free online service for mountaineers heading towards the peak's summit in order to promote tourism.
The climbers can avail the service free of cost from Lukla, where the visitors land from Kathmandu on airplane, to the Everest base camp situated at an altitude of 5,380 metres.

Any health related problems that the mountaineers encounter while scaling the 8,848 metre-peak from the Nepalese side will be addressed online, Tshering G Sherpa, CEO of the Everest Link, said.
The service has been provided in cooperation with three hospitals, two of which are based in Kathmandu, and one in Khumbu region, Sherpa said.
Any climber who needs the medical service can make a video call by logging on to the page of the internet firm after connecting to the router, and then the call is forwarded automatically to the mobile phone of the concerned doctor.
The doctor can then advise the patient on what ways to adopt to deal with a health problem.

Around 100,000 visitors, one third of whom are foreigners, arrive in the Everest region every year, either for mountaineering or trekking purposes, according to officials.