Sir Edmund Hillary recovering from sickness in Nepal

Everest hero Sir Edmund Hillary, who was hospitalised last week with altitude sickness, has recovered and is in good health, a doctor said today.

"Hillary has recovered from his sickness and he is doing fine now. In fact he is leaving for New Zealand tomorrow," said Dr Mark Zimmerman, medical director of the Patan Hospital in Kathmandu.

Hillary, 81, was discharged on Wednesday and returned today to inaugurate a new children's ward.

After cutting the red ribbon taped across the door of the new building with a surgeon's scissors, Hillary smiled and talked to the hospital staff. He did not speak to visitors and the media.

Hillary was brought to Kathmandu by helicopter on April 5 from Khumjung, in the Everest region, where doctors diagnosed him with High Altitude Pulmonary Edema, which causes breathing problems. It is a common problem for mountaineers.

He was the first man to make a documented climb of the 8,850 metre Mt Everest, in 1953, with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay.

He has not climbed in years, but is a frequent visitor to Nepal and to the Everest region, where his foundation supports schools and health clinics.

He campaigns to keep the mountain clean and to control pollution. The dumping of tents, garbage, ropes and even bodies of dead climbers on the icy slopes of Everest has gained the mountain a reputation as the world's highest garbage dump.

Since Hillary and Norgay, who died in 1986, scaled the peak on May 29, 1953, the mountain has been climbed more than 800 times and an estimated 180 lives have been lost on its unpredictable slopes.

- INDEPENDENT