Kathmandu, May 13
Nepal has requested the United States to donate vaccines and other medical supplies to help Nepal fight the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Deputy Prime Minister Ishwar Pokharel, who also coordinates the government’s Covid-19 Crisis Management Centre, telephoned US Ambassador to Nepal, Randy Berry, today and said Nepal needed the American government’s assistance now.
The call comes at a time when a group of Nepalis in Nepal and the United States have launched a petition campaign to demand vaccines for Nepal after the US government announced the distribution of 60 million vaccines among various countries in the world.
Earlier, Foreign Affairs Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali had also said the government had launched efforts to bring some vaccines from the US.
During the telephone conversation today, DPM Pokharel said Nepal had expected American assistance in the supply of ventilators, PPE sets, oxygen cylinders and concentrators, mobile oxygen plants, some medicines, and infrastructures for temporary hospitals also, informs his secretariat.
In response, the ambassador said the US would announce some support for Nepal by next week.
“I am also making efforts for the vaccines. I will inform you as soon as it is finalised,” he told the minister, it has been learned.
