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Soul-searching over quake ends Everest climbing season

By Frank Jack Daniel and Andrew R.C. Marshall LUKLA, Nepal/KATHMANDU (Reuters) – As rescuers lose hope of finding more survivors in Nepal's earthquake disaster zone, a separate drama has unfolded high above them on Mount Everest where the hopes of a few rich climbers and some of their sherpas have also vanished. After six days of high emotion and harsh words at Everest Base Camp, climbing firm Himalayan Experience finally decided on Friday to abandon its ascent of the world's highest peak, becoming the last big team to do so. For one of its clients, millionaire Texas realtor David McGrain, it should never have taken that long to call off the climb, given thousands of people had been killed in the valleys below as well as 18 in an avalanche at base camp itself. “All they could think about was their goddamn climb, when hours before we were holding crushed skulls in our hands.” McGrain, a former weightlifter and self-styled “adrenaline philanthropist” who has a tattooed chest and wears a gold nose-ring, was in a minority of one when he quit his party of at least 10 climbers, all clients of Himalayan Experience.

Quake overwhelms Nepal’s weak healthcare system

By Rupam Jain Nair KATHMANDU (Reuters) – A massive earthquake in Nepal has exposed the woeful state of its medical facilities as hospitals struggle to treat vast numbers of injured with limited supplies and staff. The country of 28 million has only 2.1 physicians and 50 hospital beds for every 10,000 people, according to a 2011 World Health Organization report. The situation is worsening a humanitarian crisis triggered by Nepal’s worst earthquake in 81 years. So far many of the seriously injured in Kathmandu were being referred to Bir Hospital’s Trauma Centre, which opened in February this year with 200 beds.

Laws deny leprosy sufferers right to work, travel, marry: study

Leprosy sufferers worldwide face discriminatory laws affecting their right to work, travel and marry, according to an advocacy group which called upon governments to follow U.N. guidelines and abolish such legislation. Around 20 countries, including India, Thailand and Nepal, have or continue to pass laws that discriminate against people with leprosy, the International Federation of Anti-Leprosy Associations (ILEP) said ahead of World Leprosy Day on Sunday.