An organisation in Calcutta is planning to train porters who help mountaineers in life-saving skills and raise awareness about their health hazards.
Liver Foundation, West Bengal, plans to conduct such training among porters in parts of India, Nepal and Africa.
Calcutta-based mountaineer Satyarup Siddhanta, who scaled Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania on October 7, conducted a survey among porters there on behalf of the Liver Foundation.
The porters there have poor awareness of health and are not trained in life-saving skills, said Siddhanta.
“I spoke to 50 porters who were part of our team for the Mount Kilimanjaro expedition. I also interviewed representatives of the porters’ associations there,” Siddhanta told Metro over the phone from Tanzania on Tuesday.
“They are not aware of the health conditions like high altitude cerebral edema and high altitude pulmonary edema. Many of them suffer from malnutrition and their diet is improper,” said Siddhanta, who has climbed the Seven Summits.
Most of the porters who are hired for Kilimanjaro expeditions have only carbohydrate-based diet, he has found out.
“I was conducting the survey and found out that most of the porters who accompany mountaineers to the peak are not aware of the physiological changes in high altitude. They are not trained in CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation),” he said.
Most of them, he said, are vaccinated against Covid.
“After I return to Calcutta, I will share the data with Liver Foundation,” said Siddhanta, who got involved with Liver Foundation, West Bengal during the Covid pandemic.
The foundation also runs the Indian Institute of Liver and Digestive Sciences at Sonarpur.
Siddhanta had approached Liver Foundation and Friends of Liver Foundation, another organisation based in the US, for such training and awareness programmes.
“Similar training programmes can be organised for porters in Uttarakhand in India and in Nepal,” he said.
Siddhanta led the Kilimanjaro expedition, that had mountaineers from seven countries — the US, Russia, Germany, Greece, Finland, Columbia and India. “That was a great platform to spread awareness about liver diseases,” he said.
Abhijit Chowdhury, chief mentor, Liver Foundation, said the organisation wants to spread public health awareness through mountaineers.
“Once we receive the survey data from Siddhanta, we will decide on how to go forward with the training of porters and spreading awareness among them in different parts of the world,” said Chowdhury.
He said mountaineers could be excellent advocators for public health issues. “They visit various countries and meet with so many people. So, mountaineers can play a key role in spreading awareness about public health,” said Chowdhury.