Ambassador of India to Nepal Vinay Mohan Kwatra handed over 150 ICU Beds to Minister for Law, Justice & Parliamentary Affairs Gyanendra Bahadur Karki at a ceremony organized at the Ministry of Health & Population on 18 July 2021.

This is part of India’s commitment to COVID 19 cooperation with Nepal.

At the handing over ceremony, Indian Ambassador reiterated India’s commitment to assist Nepal in comprehensively managing the pandemic, including through cooperation on the critical health infrastructure of the country.

Minister Karki appreciated the gesture from Government of India and added that it is an important milestone in our fight against Covid-19 and it shows the incredible goodwill enjoyed by both the countries.

Since the start of the pandemic, India has provided around US $ 6.5 million worth of grant assistance to Nepal, through supply of essential medicines, RT-PCR tests, ventilators, and essential medicines etc. Nepal was one of the first countries to receive 1 million doses of Covishield vaccines from India in January 2021 as grant. Besides this, the Indian Army has also supplied 1 lakh doses of vaccines to the Nepal Army as grant and medical supplies including BIPAP machines, antigen kits, PPE, Masks, Ambulances and ICU beds.

India and Nepal have a robust cooperation in the health sector, that includes supply of ambulances, regular training& capacity building programs in the health sector and development of health infrastructure including major hospitals, trauma & maternity centres, naturopathy centres, eye care centres etc.