Articles

Khare Porter Aid Post Update

Written by Nick Mason, December 2007

For the last few years Jagged Globe has been sponsoring a small aid post at the village of Khare in the Hinku Valley of the Barun Makalu National Park. Khare sits below Mera Peak, which at 6476m is the highest trekking peak in Nepal. It was 4 years since I had visited the area and the most noticeable changes in that time were an increase in the number of trekkers and the growth and development that has taken place in villages such as Khote, Tagnag and Khare. Unfortunately increased popularity also brings with it its share of poorly-prepared trekkers and groups; those who underestimate the seriousness of Mera Peak or think that they can ignore the normal rules of altitude acclimatisation and those who show no interest in taking care of their porter staff.

The aid post, which this season was staffed by Dawa Sherpa, provides invaluable medical care to porters and locals. During my visit I was able to see at first hand the problems that Dawa is required to deal with: many cases of coughs and colds and sore throats, but also cases of acute mountain sickness and its more serious complications; high altitude pulmonary oedema (HAPE) and high altitude cerebral oedema (HACE). There is a myth that porters are immune to altitude illness. In reality, as the majority of porters are itinerant lowlanders seeking work at altitude, they are just as susceptible to altitude illness as any Western visitor. In addition to the dangers of altitude, many porters are forced to sleep in the open or in caves or makeshift bivouacs when Khare is full of trekkers. On one evening I counted seven such groups, each consisting of between four to eight porters huddled around fires to keep warm.

Sadly some porters continue to be sent down unaccompanied when they become sick at altitude. My first attempt to ascend to Khare had to be aborted when I came across a porter with snow blindness and pneumonia who had collapsed exhausted at the side of the trail. He had fallen ill while working for an expedition on Baruntse in the adjacent Hongu Valley and had descended and crossed the glaciated Mera La on his own and without sunglasses. I descended with him to Tagnag where with appropriate treatment he made a rapid recovery. Others are not so fortunate and while at Khare, reports began to come in of two porters who had died in the Hongu Valley during a snowstorm. I was also receiving regular visits from trekkers and in the short time that I was in Khare I saw six cases of frostbite due to inadequate footwear, as well as a case of HACE and a case of HAPE. All of these patients required helicopter evacuation. There is no doubt that Khare is going to provide an increasing amount of work for the Jagged Globe aid post and it is to be hoped that funding can be found to further develop the post and address the considerable problems of altitude-related illness and the complex issues of porter welfare that exist there.

Dr. Nick Mason is a consultant in intensive care medicine at the Royal Gwent Hospital, Newport, South Wales. He is UK representative for the International Porter Protection Group and a member of the Faculty of the UK Diploma in Mountain Medicine.

Jagged Globe aims to raise £25,000 to build a permanent aid post in Khare, Nepal, where we funded a temporary post this past season. To help us, please send a cheque to the usual address made out to 'International Porter Protection Group'. Thank you!

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