After Hillary climbed
Everest in 1953, he led many further expeditions to Nepal. From the early 1960s, these expeditions had a focus on improving the health and social welfare of the people of Nepal, including the improvement of water supplies, the building of schools, bridges and an airstrip at
Lukla, and the provision of medical care and a programme of vaccination against
smallpox. In 1966, Hillary, with overseas volunteers and local people, built the hospital at Kunde. The hospital opened on December 18, 1966, when Dr John McKinnon and Diane McKinnon, of
New Zealand, became the first volunteer couple to staff the hospital. The hospital was initially staffed by overseas volunteers from New Zealand and
Canada, provided through the
Volunteer Service Abroad organisation and later by
The Himalayan Trust and the Sir Edmund Hillary Foundation Canada. Canadian doctor
Joan Ford was one such overseas doctor who provided services at the hospital. Since 2002, it has been wholly staffed and run by local people. The hospital has 12 beds. ==References==