The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Nepal may be low but it is not due to precautions taken by the Govt but because of the low rate of testing

With the number of COVID-19 cases rising globally, India’s neighbour Nepal is also going through a critical phase in its fight against the pandemic. A country located next to China, the nation where the COVID-19 outbreak began, its immediate vulnerabilities lie in addressing the epidemic with an existing poor healthcare infrastructure and ensuring the safety of its people. The very first case of COVID-19 was reported on January 23 in Nepal. A student who had returned from Wuhan on January 9 was admitted to a hospital in Kathmandu. With no expertise and lab infrastructure to examine such cases then, the swab tests of the student were sent to Hong Kong and had confirmed the Nepal Government’s worst fears.

Loose end: Nepal’s first COVID-19 case had recovered in the second week of February. With no new cases reported until the third week of March, overzealous Government officials went on to declare Nepal a “COVID-19 free” country. While it was the time for the Government to deploy extra measures to prepare for the outbreak, declaring the country as “COVID-19 free” without any consultation with medical experts was indeed a short-sighted and irresponsible step. The Government was very clear that it did not wish to stop the arrival of tourists in Nepal because 2020 had been declared as a tourism year and the Government had spent a lot of time and money in making its ‘Visit Nepal 2020’ campaign a household initiative. However, in the end, with the appearance of the Coronavirus, Nepal had to suspend the campaign officially, even though till today it has a total of 16 confirmed cases and no reported deaths. In 2018, tourism had contributed more than seven per cent revenue to the Nepalese Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which was expected to double this year. With the suspension of tourism for this year, the economy will have to bear the brunt.

Logistic shortage: Compared to its neighbours India and China, which have reported a huge number of cases, Nepal has seen just 16 positive cases till now. The country has conducted a total of 6,299 tests, with a little over 80 people in isolation. Amid the ongoing lockdown, Nepal is facing an acute shortage of trained human resources, required healthcare infrastructure, including speciality hospitals, safety gear and testing kits. In several cases, healthcare staff have refused to attend to their duties due to lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). In the present circumstances, testing is key to contain and control the spread of the epidemic. However, with just one specialised testing lab for COVID-19 cases in the capital city for a population of more than 29 million people, Nepal is wide open to any major surge in the pandemic. While nine more temporary testing labs have been established in the last 15 days, logistical support and their testing capacity are yet to be seen. Meanwhile, Nepal has requested several countries, including India, China, Singapore, South Korea and Israel to supply medical equipment and medicines needed to combat the disease.

Missing preparedness: Over the last two decades, the Government has not paid any heed to improving the quality and quantity of healthcare facilities in the country. Against this backdrop, Nepal has faced several emergencies such as the present outbreak. A decade-long civil war from 1996-2006 was followed by a major earthquake in 2015 which claimed over 20,000 lives and destroyed 1,500 health facilities, creating an immediate need for investing in the public healthcare system. Meanwhile, no lessons were learnt from these two important events and nothing was done to better the basic healthcare infrastructure. While conflict and natural calamities have both direct and indirect effects on people’s health and the overall health system in the immediate and post-shock phase, the missing healthcare infrastructure in Nepal is a matter of major concern, particularly in the present crisis.

India extends help: As Nepal awaits replies from other countries, India has begun to send new consignments of medical supplies, including the much-needed hydroxychloroquine sulphate. During an official conversation between Prime Minister Modi and his Nepalese counterpart on April 10, the two Prime Ministers agreed “to look after the welfare and medical care of the people of the two countries currently living in each other’s territory.”

The multi-dimensional friendly relations between India and Nepal are testimony to shared socio-cultural and people-to-people contacts that have stood the test of time and various disasters. The creation of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) COVID-19 Emergency Fund is a collective effort initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring SAARC countries onboard to fight COVID-19. Nepal has actively participated in the initiative and the initiative shall work as an additional effective mechanism in Nepal’s fight against COVID-19.

China banks on the crisis: China, on the other hand, is banking on the ongoing crisis in Nepal. China’s online supply chain Alibaba along with the local administration of its Sichuan province have donated PPE and portable shelters to Nepal. However, a significant deal to a private Chinese company to procure equipment worth more than $10 million was cancelled amid criticism. The Government of Nepal faced criticism for defying the rules in granting the contract to a private company, which has been involved in supplying low-quality products in the past. Giving in to public pressure, the Ministry of Health and Population decided to annul the tender. At this critical juncture, it is the responsibility of the Government of Nepal to ensure that logistics are procured with caution, rather than appease China with multi-million-dollar deals. On April 10, the Tibet Autonomous Region also donated medical equipment to Nepal and China and Chinese officials conducted a “handing over ceremony.” With Nepal facing a critical shortage of supplies, Chinese assistance is not free from an attempt to win over public sentiments. Something that India needs to watch out for.

Poor governance: An acute shortage of medical equipment exhibits poor governance and the inability of the Government of Nepal to safeguard the interests of its citizens who have been a cardinal factor in sustaining the economy. Notably, one-fourth of Nepal’s GDP comes from the remittances sent home by the Nepalese workforce abroad. Following the initial fears of lockdowns in host countries, thousands of Nepalese migrant workers attempted to travel back to their home country. While the closure of international flights stopped millions of  workers  from returning to Nepal from the Middle-East, Malaysia and Australia, thousands of them are stuck at the Indo-Nepal border.

This is after they undertook long and arduous journeys through land routes to cross the border checkposts. With no quarantine wards and healthcare personnel deployed at the check-posts, these workers have been desperately waiting to get back to their homes.

By stopping the returnees at the border, Nepal might have chosen to contain the spread of the COVID-19 but it is a cruel, irresponsible and inadequate attitude towards its citizens. They have been left in the open without food, shelter and exposed to Coronavirus contamination due to lack of social distancing at several places. It was as late as April 10 that Nepalese Prime Minister KP Oli requested his Indian counterpart to look after the welfare and medical needs of those stuck at the Indo-Nepal border. As India does its bit to provide food and shelter to the suffering Nepalese workforce, the Government of Nepal should have had mechanisms in place in advance for its returning expatriates. It must have in all honesty anticipated the return of its people from the neighbouring nation given the long open border. That it chose not to do anything about it and let its people suffer knowingly is something that will always be remembered by the people of the little Himalayan nation.

 The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Nepal may be low but it is not due to precautions taken by the Government. It is less because of the low rate of tests being carried out per day. On April 11, Nepal recorded the highest number of COVID-19 tests and the same day, three new cases were reported. For all we know, it might be the next hotspot of the world. But that will only be revealed once more testing is done.

It is time for the Government of Nepal to provide proper healthcare to its people to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the country. The present Government won a large public mandate in the 2017 elections due to Oli’s promises of a stable Government and improved economic conditions. However, poor governance, flawed economic policies and imbalanced foreign relations have endangered the lives of citizens.

(Writer: Karan bhasin; Courtesy: The Pioneer)

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Nepal may be low but it is not due to precautions taken by the Govt but because of the low rate of testing

With the number of COVID-19 cases rising globally, India’s neighbour Nepal is also going through a critical phase in its fight against the pandemic. A country located next to China, the nation where the COVID-19 outbreak began, its immediate vulnerabilities lie in addressing the epidemic with an existing poor healthcare infrastructure and ensuring the safety of its people. The very first case of COVID-19 was reported on January 23 in Nepal. A student who had returned from Wuhan on January 9 was admitted to a hospital in Kathmandu. With no expertise and lab infrastructure to examine such cases then, the swab tests of the student were sent to Hong Kong and had confirmed the Nepal Government’s worst fears.

Loose end: Nepal’s first COVID-19 case had recovered in the second week of February. With no new cases reported until the third week of March, overzealous Government officials went on to declare Nepal a “COVID-19 free” country. While it was the time for the Government to deploy extra measures to prepare for the outbreak, declaring the country as “COVID-19 free” without any consultation with medical experts was indeed a short-sighted and irresponsible step. The Government was very clear that it did not wish to stop the arrival of tourists in Nepal because 2020 had been declared as a tourism year and the Government had spent a lot of time and money in making its ‘Visit Nepal 2020’ campaign a household initiative. However, in the end, with the appearance of the Coronavirus, Nepal had to suspend the campaign officially, even though till today it has a total of 16 confirmed cases and no reported deaths. In 2018, tourism had contributed more than seven per cent revenue to the Nepalese Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which was expected to double this year. With the suspension of tourism for this year, the economy will have to bear the brunt.

Logistic shortage: Compared to its neighbours India and China, which have reported a huge number of cases, Nepal has seen just 16 positive cases till now. The country has conducted a total of 6,299 tests, with a little over 80 people in isolation. Amid the ongoing lockdown, Nepal is facing an acute shortage of trained human resources, required healthcare infrastructure, including speciality hospitals, safety gear and testing kits. In several cases, healthcare staff have refused to attend to their duties due to lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). In the present circumstances, testing is key to contain and control the spread of the epidemic. However, with just one specialised testing lab for COVID-19 cases in the capital city for a population of more than 29 million people, Nepal is wide open to any major surge in the pandemic. While nine more temporary testing labs have been established in the last 15 days, logistical support and their testing capacity are yet to be seen. Meanwhile, Nepal has requested several countries, including India, China, Singapore, South Korea and Israel to supply medical equipment and medicines needed to combat the disease.

Missing preparedness: Over the last two decades, the Government has not paid any heed to improving the quality and quantity of healthcare facilities in the country. Against this backdrop, Nepal has faced several emergencies such as the present outbreak. A decade-long civil war from 1996-2006 was followed by a major earthquake in 2015 which claimed over 20,000 lives and destroyed 1,500 health facilities, creating an immediate need for investing in the public healthcare system. Meanwhile, no lessons were learnt from these two important events and nothing was done to better the basic healthcare infrastructure. While conflict and natural calamities have both direct and indirect effects on people’s health and the overall health system in the immediate and post-shock phase, the missing healthcare infrastructure in Nepal is a matter of major concern, particularly in the present crisis.

India extends help: As Nepal awaits replies from other countries, India has begun to send new consignments of medical supplies, including the much-needed hydroxychloroquine sulphate. During an official conversation between Prime Minister Modi and his Nepalese counterpart on April 10, the two Prime Ministers agreed “to look after the welfare and medical care of the people of the two countries currently living in each other’s territory.”

The multi-dimensional friendly relations between India and Nepal are testimony to shared socio-cultural and people-to-people contacts that have stood the test of time and various disasters. The creation of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) COVID-19 Emergency Fund is a collective effort initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring SAARC countries onboard to fight COVID-19. Nepal has actively participated in the initiative and the initiative shall work as an additional effective mechanism in Nepal’s fight against COVID-19.

China banks on the crisis: China, on the other hand, is banking on the ongoing crisis in Nepal. China’s online supply chain Alibaba along with the local administration of its Sichuan province have donated PPE and portable shelters to Nepal. However, a significant deal to a private Chinese company to procure equipment worth more than $10 million was cancelled amid criticism. The Government of Nepal faced criticism for defying the rules in granting the contract to a private company, which has been involved in supplying low-quality products in the past. Giving in to public pressure, the Ministry of Health and Population decided to annul the tender. At this critical juncture, it is the responsibility of the Government of Nepal to ensure that logistics are procured with caution, rather than appease China with multi-million-dollar deals. On April 10, the Tibet Autonomous Region also donated medical equipment to Nepal and China and Chinese officials conducted a “handing over ceremony.” With Nepal facing a critical shortage of supplies, Chinese assistance is not free from an attempt to win over public sentiments. Something that India needs to watch out for.

Poor governance: An acute shortage of medical equipment exhibits poor governance and the inability of the Government of Nepal to safeguard the interests of its citizens who have been a cardinal factor in sustaining the economy. Notably, one-fourth of Nepal’s GDP comes from the remittances sent home by the Nepalese workforce abroad. Following the initial fears of lockdowns in host countries, thousands of Nepalese migrant workers attempted to travel back to their home country. While the closure of international flights stopped millions of  workers  from returning to Nepal from the Middle-East, Malaysia and Australia, thousands of them are stuck at the Indo-Nepal border.

This is after they undertook long and arduous journeys through land routes to cross the border checkposts. With no quarantine wards and healthcare personnel deployed at the check-posts, these workers have been desperately waiting to get back to their homes.

By stopping the returnees at the border, Nepal might have chosen to contain the spread of the COVID-19 but it is a cruel, irresponsible and inadequate attitude towards its citizens. They have been left in the open without food, shelter and exposed to Coronavirus contamination due to lack of social distancing at several places. It was as late as April 10 that Nepalese Prime Minister KP Oli requested his Indian counterpart to look after the welfare and medical needs of those stuck at the Indo-Nepal border. As India does its bit to provide food and shelter to the suffering Nepalese workforce, the Government of Nepal should have had mechanisms in place in advance for its returning expatriates. It must have in all honesty anticipated the return of its people from the neighbouring nation given the long open border. That it chose not to do anything about it and let its people suffer knowingly is something that will always be remembered by the people of the little Himalayan nation.

 The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Nepal may be low but it is not due to precautions taken by the Government. It is less because of the low rate of tests being carried out per day. On April 11, Nepal recorded the highest number of COVID-19 tests and the same day, three new cases were reported. For all we know, it might be the next hotspot of the world. But that will only be revealed once more testing is done.

It is time for the Government of Nepal to provide proper healthcare to its people to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the country. The present Government won a large public mandate in the 2017 elections due to Oli’s promises of a stable Government and improved economic conditions. However, poor governance, flawed economic policies and imbalanced foreign relations have endangered the lives of citizens.

(Writer: Karan bhasin; Courtesy: The Pioneer)