A doctor from Causeway Hospital in Northern Ireland has helped diagnose three patients with early-stage stomach cancer while volunteering in a remote part of Nepal earlier this year.

Dr Amrita Gurung took part in a stomach cancer screening endoscopy programme in the Khumbu region, home to Mount Everest. The initiative was organised with the Himalayan Trust and Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality and delivered at Kunde Hillary Hospital, situated 3,840 metres above sea level.

The programme was set up in response to evidence of a disproportionately high prevalence of stomach cancer among the local Sherpa population. Its aim was to improve early detection of upper gastrointestinal disorders and identify those at risk.

Over three days, Dr Gurung and her colleagues performed 71 upper gastrointestinal endoscopies. They worked with limited resources, sharing one endoscope among three doctors and cleaning it manually between procedures. Patients travelled from across the mountainous area, many walking for hours or days to reach the screening.

Reaching the hospital posed its own difficulties. After bad weather cancelled a flight from Kathmandu to Lukla, the team travelled by helicopter before making a three-day trek through mountainous terrain to Kunde.

Dr Gurung described the experience of diagnosing three early-stage cancers as rewarding and said early diagnosis may have improved those patients' prognosis. She expressed a sense of responsibility as a Nepalese doctor working abroad to support communities in her home country. The experience strengthened her interest in future volunteer work and gave her renewed appreciation for NHS resources and the importance of early detection.