After reading the letters by Debra Stoner and Stephen Bezruchka (#197, 196) critical of Sraddha Basnyat's report 'Trekkers bring medical care to the Annapurnas' (#193) I would like to tell the learned doctors that their esoteric arguments on medical ethics may be a fine subject to debate in the public health doctoral programs in their respective institutions, but it is of little comfort to a child dying in Beni because of dehydration or a mother suffering from birth complications in Rasuwa. As a volunteer in rural Nepal for the past few years, I have seen enough suffering and unnecessary death due to lack of facilities and medicines to say with confidence that any help to augment the equipment or drugs in health posts and hospitals can spell the difference between life and death. Bezruchka's argument that America is a nation with poor health care and therefore it has no right to preach to others is specious. First of all, the good samaritans featured in the article just happen to be Americans. They could be any other nationality. Secondly, who cares about America's health programs? What is important is how much difference even simple things like a dental floss demonstration or the training value of a resuscitation baby makes here. Your article summed it up rather well: 'Medicines for Nepal at least provides medicines where there aren't any and has a regular channel to keep the supplies going to remote health posts.' And what a great way to make trekking so directly beneficial to the people!

Judi Goldener,
Pokhara