Highlights
- Nepal's caretaker PM calls for international support to fight coronavirus
- Australia's Nepali community joins hands to provide support
- Nepali Embassy in Canberra commends outpouring of support from all Australians
Nepal’s caretaker Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli has called upon the international community to urgently provide help for his country’s spiralling COVID-19 crisis.
Mr Oli’s call for help came as authorities report more than 93,000 active cases of COVID-19 across the country and the death toll sitting above 3,850.
Mr Oli wrote an in The Guardian on 11 May, the same day when he lost a Motion of No- Confidence in Parliament. He wrote that the coronavirus was leaving Nepal breathless.
“Our sherpas are known for sharing their oxygen with struggling climbers at high altitude, so we are looking for the “Sherpas” of the international community,” he wrote, referring to the members of the Sherpa community of Nepal known for assisting mountaineers.
“We are pleading with our international friends around the world to urgently provide us with essential medical items, life- saving drugs and vaccines,” Mr Oli added.
Mr Oli also urged the United Kingdom to employ its influence as current chair of G7 to galvanise support from the seven largest economies of the world to “accelerate the deployment of vaccines around the world, especially to the countries that need them most urgently”.
Nepal's Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli getting tested for COVID-19 as the country sees surge in cases and deathtoll Source: Rajan Kafle/ RSS
The Communist leader’s call for support came as he was widely criticised for a recent , wherein he stressed that the coronavirus situation in the country was “under control”.
Public health experts have blamed “” by the Oli government for its current second wave of COVID-19, which is more severe than the first in 2020.
Political aspirations adding to the crisis
Disagreement and division within the ruling Communist Party of Nepal (UML) and the main opposition, the Nepali Congress, have also been blamed for the increasing coronavirus cases in the country.
Local media have been criticising politicians for prioritising political aspirations over the COVID-19 crisis.
Nepali Times, a leading news publication in the country, accused the caretaker prime minister and his government of “”.
“No symptom of Nepal’s current malaise could be more symbolic than a Prime Minister seeking a confidence vote in a crowded Parliament in the middle of a raging pandemic,” stated the newspaper’s editorial.
“Of the 1300 people tested…for Monday’s House Session, 27 MPs and 140 parliamentary secretariat staff came out positive,” they added.
Concerns and support from Australia
Pushpa Kamal Dahal,leader of the splinter group in the governing Nepal Communist Party attends a meeting at parliament in Kathmandu, Nepal, Monday, May 10, 2021 Source: AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha via AAP
Meanwhile in Australia, with many members of the Nepali community impacted through their families suffering in their country of birth, various community organisations are joining forces to help provide health support.
One such organisation is the Non- Resident Nepali Association Australia (NRNAA). This Australian branch of a global diaspora group said they are teaming up with other Nepali community organisations in Australia to purchase oxygen cylinders for use back home.
Nanda Gurung is the spokesperson for NRNAA.
Mr Gurung said they had recently organised a fundraising campaign to procure and distribute oxygen cylinders to various public hospitals in Nepal.
, out of 185 hospitals in the country, only 25 have oxygen plants of their own and with government hospitals running at capacity, many patients are reportedly being turned away.
“As we can’t arrange for hospital beds, our fundraising efforts will focus on oxygen cylinders”, Mr Gurung told SBS Nepali.
Leaving Nepal’s COVID -19 patients to their fate and arrange for oxygen cylinders has caused extreme concern for Nepali-origin medical practitioners in Australia.
Members of the Australian Nepalese Medical and Dental Association (ANMDA) are also raising funds and liaising with their overseas counterparts to help supply oxygen concentrators, machines that concentrate oxygen from ambient air and may act as a substitute for oxygen cylinders for people with breathing trouble.
Punam Pant, the Executive Officer of ANMDA, says the key message they have been receiving from health practitioners in Nepal is that they lack the resources to treat the increasing number of COVID-19 patients.
Covid-19 patients are being treated outside a hospital after Covid-19 wards are fully occupied at hospitals in Kathmandu, Nepal. Source: EPA/NARENDRA SHRESTHA via AAP
“Health workers are fatigued but they have no choice, everyone is working around the clock as patients line up outside hospitals for bed, oxygen and doctors”, says Ms Pant.
After the 2015 earthquake that killed thousands in Nepal, many members of ANMDA went back home to provide support. But with the current border closures and the nature of the virus, they are now forced to watch from afar.
During the first wave of the pandemic, the ANMDA had sent items like personal protective equipment to Nepal.
Punam Panta spoke to SBS Nepali on Australian Nepalese Medical and Dental Association (ANMDA) Source: Rajish Aryal/ SBS
This time around, the message they’re receiving is for helping with oxygen concentrators.
Buying oxygen is proving challenging with price inflation becoming a problem.
“Oxygen concentrators initially cost around $300 but many have seen prices skyrocket. Our first order will be arriving in Nepal by 18 May,” she adds.
Nepali embassy seeks support
Durapada Sapkota from the Embassy of Nepal in Canberra spoke to SBS Nepali Source: SBS Nepali
Like many Australians born in Nepal, people from the wider community are also keen to lend their support to this cause.
Durapada Sapkota from the Embassy of Nepal in Canberra says they’re seeing an outpouring of support from Australian friends of Nepal.
“Many Australians are concerned about the current situation in Nepal, a group has been lobbying with federal authorities here as well,” Ms Sapkota told SBS Nepali.
The embassy says they’re working with community organisations to provide medical support and are also liaising with their Australian counterparts to help facilitate such assistance.
“Now that Australian authorities have removed restrictions on the export of health products being sent to Nepal, like personal protective equipment, it has assisted many organisations here working to provide health support in Nepal,” she adds.
