KATHMANDU: Malaysian climber Wui Kin Chin, who is undergoing treatment at the Intensive Care Unit of Nepal Mediciti Hospital, will be airlifted to Singapore later this afternoon, according to sources.

Kin Chin, 49, was evacuated from the base camp of Mt Annapurna to Kathmandu on Friday after a group of four climbers rescued him alive from above Camp IV in the world’s tenth highest mountain.

“As the doctors witnessed slight improvement in Kin Chin’s health condition, his family is preparing to airlift him to Singapore for further treatment,” a source at Mediciti Hospital said, adding that some of the specific formalities including insurance clearance were being worked out to release the patient.

According to sources, an air ambulance has already reached the Capital to airlift Kin Chin. “Hospital authority has expedited its process for commissioning the urgent air-medical transport to transfer Kin Chin to Singapore.” Kin Chin’s wife Thanaporn Lorchirachoonkul was also present in the hospital, it added.

The climber, who was exposed to sub-zero temperature for nearly two days, was given respiratory support through Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation, an artificial technique to support his respiration.

“Now, with the body temperature elevating, some visible progresses have also been noted in his health condition,” a source said, he lost his hands and legs to severe frostbite.

Kin Chin, University of Melbourne alumnus and Singapore-based senior Anaesthesiologist, along with other 30 climbers had scaled Mt Annapurna on Tuesday. Kin Chin, who was separated from fellow climbers on descent, was spotted alive on Thursday.