Covid-19 Nepal: India Hands Over 150 ICU Beds

Kathmandu: The Embassy of India has handed over 150 ICU beds to the government of Nepal to support the country’s Covid-19 response.

Indian Ambassador Vinay Mohan Kwatra handed over the beds to Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Gyanendra Bahadur Karki at a ceremony organised at the Ministry of Health and Population on Monday.

On the occasion, the ambassador reiterated India’s commitment to assisting Nepal in comprehensively managing the pandemic, including through cooperation on the critical health infrastructure of the country, informs the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu in a statement.

In response, Karki appreciated the gesture from the Indian government and added that it would be an important milestone in the country’s fight against Covid-19.

“Since the start of the pandemic, India has provided grant assistance to Nepal worth around USD 6.5 million through the supply of essential medicines, RT-PCR tests, ventilators, and essential medicines etc,” the statement says, “Nepal was one of the first countries to receive 1 million doses of Covishield vaccines from India in January 2021 as a grant. Besides this, the Indian Army has also supplied 100,000 doses of vaccines to the Nepal Army as grant and medical supplies including BIPAP machines, antigen kits, PPE, masks, ambulances and ICU beds.”