Bir Hospital is designated for Covid-19 treatment

 Since the number of coronavirus (Covid-19) infected has been increasing in the Kathmandu valley lately, the government has decided to develop Bir Hospital as the dedicated hospital for treatment of Covid-19 patients.

A meeting of the Health Emergency Command System held today decided to develop Bir Hospital as the dedicated hospital for treatment of Covid-19 patients, according to the spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Population Dr Jageshwor Gautam.

The regular health care services delivered from the Bir Hospital will be provided from the National Trauma Centre, he said, adding that even the patients of the Bir Hospital would be shifted to the National Trauma Centre, after the latest move of the government.

Earlier, the government has already dedicated Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital and Armed Police Force Hospital in Balambu for the treatment of Covid-19 patients. “The Ministry and Health Service Department will deploy medical students from different medical institutions as volunteers for the prevention and control of coronavirus infection after signing a contract agreement,” he added. “The volunteers will visit the coronavirus infected places for awareness raising events.”

Likewise, Finance Ministry has released a budget for 60 ICU beds. Dr Gautam confirmed that those ICU beds would be readied at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH) and Dhulikhel Hospital.

Most of the local levels fail to bring law to protect consumers

 Some 746 local governments have yet not brought Consumers Protection Act, though the Constitution has given them the right to bring the law to protect consumer, according to the chair of the Consumer Welfare Protection Forum Jyoti Baniya, speaking at a programme today.

Highlighting the need to enforce Local Market Management Act as provisioned in the Constitution, he said that the Constitution has also recognised consumers’ welfare under the fundamental right providing sufficient grounds to enforce effective measures to protect their rights. ”The local governments’ apathy to introduce necessary laws has left consumers helpless across the country.”

Although it has been almost five years since the new constitution was endorsed – in 2015 – and the local governments had their elected representatives a year later, only 7 local governments – out of a total 753 – including Damak, Kalaiya, Bhimeshwor, Waling, Tansen, Birendranagar and Tikapur municipalities have so far brought the Act. The law paves way for forming a powerful committee under leadership of the deputy mayor, Baniya added.

The law delegates full authority to the committee to oversee almost all market related activities that include cross inspection, provision of selling points and budget management to conduct research and raise awareness among general people. Each of these 7 municipalities are reported to have allocated up to Rs 5 million to carry out these activities.

The delay in formulating necessary laws by the local governments has created severe problem in effective market inspection and monitoring,” he said, adding that the market inspection being conducted by mayor, deputy mayor or high ranking government officials, in the absence of necessary law have failed to provide any relief to the consumers. “The market, however, has become largely unsafe for consumers as they are being cheated.”

The concern for consumers’ right protection started in Nepal some two-and-a-half decades ago.

World Bank $10.85 million additional grant to support learning and build resilient education sector

 Nepal and the World Bank today signed a financing agreement for an additional grant of $10.85 million to the School Sector Development Programme (SSDP) to maintain access to basic education and continued learning for children amid the Covid-19 crisis.

The government’s SSDP is a sector-wide program supported by IDA credit of $185 million, together with support from Asian Development Bank (ADB), European Union (EU), Finland, Global Partnership for Education (GPE), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Norway, USAID, UNICEF and REACH Multi-Donor Trust Fund administered by the World Bank. The programme aims at improving the quality, equitable access, and efficiency of basic and secondary education in Nepal.

The additional grant from the GPE Covid-19 Accelerated Funds will contribute to the implementation of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology’s Covid-19 contingency plan to mitigate and respond to the potential impacts of the pandemic on the education sector.

The agreement was signed by the Joint Secretary at the Finance Ministry Shreekrishna Nepal on behalf of the government of Nepal and by the World Bank country director for Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka, Faris Hadad-Zervos.

“We are thankful to the World Bank and GPE for the additional grant that will help mitigate learning loss for children due to the impact of Covid-19,” Nepal said, adding that the grant provides much needed support to the government to respond to the impacts of the pandemic to enable continuity of learning during school closures, enable schools to safely resume and mitigate the impacts on students and teachers, including loss of learning time and psychosocial impacts.

The additional grant will finance activities to support remote learning programmes through television, radio and the learning portal as well as printed learning packs for children who do not have access to media or internet. The grant will support communication campaigns and teacher professional development programmes and help strengthen the Education Management Information Systems. The grant will also support provincial and local governments to support safe reopening of schools and continued learning of children.

“The education sector in Nepal and across the world has been one of the hardest hit owing to the pandemic which has deeply affected learning outcomes for children”,  World Bank country director for Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka Faris Hadad-Zervos, said after signing ceremony. “While supporting the immediate needs for safeguarding access and learning for children, especially girls, the additional grant will support the broader resilient recovery efforts of the government and help build back better the education sector in Nepal.”

UNICEF to lead procurement and supply of Covid-19 vaccines

 UNICEF is leading efforts to procure and supply Covid-19 vaccines in what could possibly be the world’s largest and fastest ever procurement and supply of vaccines, as part of the global vaccine plan of the Covid-19 Vaccine Global Access Facility (COVAX Facility) led by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

With several vaccine candidates showing promise, UNICEF, in collaboration with the PAHO Revolving Fund, will lead efforts to procure and supply doses of Covid-19 vaccines on behalf of the COVAX Facility for 92 low- and lower middle-income countries, whose vaccine purchases will be supported by the mechanism through the Gavi COVAX AMC as well as a buffer stockpile for humanitarian emergencies, reads a press note issued by the UNICEF today. “In addition, UNICEF will also serve as procurement coordinator to support procurement by 80 higher-income economies, which have expressed their intent to participate in the COVAX Facility and would finance the vaccines from their own public finance budgets.”

UNICEF will undertake these efforts in close collaboration with WHO, Gavi, CEPI, PAHO, World Bank, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and other partners. The COVAX Facility is open to all countries to ensure that no country is left without access to a future COVID-19 vaccine. 

“This is an all-hands on deck partnership between governments, manufacturers and multilateral partners to continue the high-stakes fight against the Covid-19 pandemic,” said UNICEF executive director Henrietta Fore. “In our collective pursuit of a vaccine, UNICEF is leveraging its unique strengths in vaccine supply to make sure that all countries have safe, fast and equitable access to the initial doses when they are available.”

UNICEF is the largest single vaccine buyer in the world, procuring more than 2 billion doses of vaccines annually for routine immunization and outbreak response on behalf of nearly 100 countries. It is the main procurement partner of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which over the last 20 years has reached more than 760 million children with life-saving vaccines, preventing more than 13 million deaths. UNICEF will use its market shaping and procurement expertise to coordinate the procurement and supply of Covid-19 vaccines for the COVAX Facility. This could potentially double the agency’s overall vaccine procurement throughput volume in 2021 alone, reads the press note.

In response to an expression of interest that UNICEF issued in June on behalf of the COVAX Facility, some 28 manufacturers with production facilities in 10 countries shared their annual production plans for Covid-19 vaccines through 2023. According to the timelines the manufacturers indicated, the span from development to production could be one of the fastest scientific and manufacturing leaps in history.

A UNICEF market assessment, developed by compiling information submitted by vaccine manufacturers along with publicly available data, revealed that manufacturers are willing to collectively produce unprecedented quantities of vaccines over the coming 1-2 years. However, manufacturers signaled that investments to support such large-scale production of doses would be highly dependent on, among other things, whether clinical trials are successful, advance purchase agreements are put in place, funding is confirmed, and regulatory and registration pathways are streamlined.

This assessment also illustrates, among other things, manufacturers’ responsiveness to the COVAX Facility’s design and objectives – a key pillar of the ACT-Accelerator initiative, which is a new, groundbreaking global collaboration to accelerate the development and equitable distribution of vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics to address the Covid-19 pandemic across countries of all income levels. 

A key next step will be ensuring self-financing economies sign up for the COVAX Facility by September 18, which will allow COVAX to support early, at-risk investments in increasing manufacturing capacity on a broad scale, through advance purchase agreements. 

Currently under development by WHO, the COVAX allocation framework will guide how and where UNICEF, PAHO and other procurers working on behalf of participating countries supply Covid-19 vaccines that are secured by the Facility. Initial dose allocations are expected to be scaled to enable countries to vaccinate health and social workers, followed by subsequent tranches of vaccine doses that would enable participating countries to vaccinate populations at higher risk of critical Covid-19 disease.

“UNICEF has been critical partner in the Alliance’s success over the last two decades – helping us reach more than half the world’s population with life-saving vaccines,” CEO of Gavi Dr Seth Berkley said, adding that the expertise and experience will be important in ensuring that COVAX – as a global effort to procure and deliver safe and effective Covid-19 vaccines, on an accelerated timeframe, and at an unprecedented scale – can protect the most at-risk, wherever they may be in the world. “Together we can work to end the acute stage of this pandemic, including its devastating impact on individuals, communities, and economies.”

UNICEF, Gavi, WHO, and PAHO have started critical preparatory work for country vaccine readiness in collaboration with partners and national governments including: 

• Working with device manufacturers to plan availability of safe injection equipment and cold chain requirements for the vaccine; 

• Developing guidance with WHO and trainings to support vaccination policies and appropriate handling, store and distribution of the vaccines; 

• Working with manufacturers on freight and logistics solutions to get vaccine doses to countries as quickly and safely as possible once they are allocated;

• Supporting countries in planning for vaccine delivery, including targeting those most at risk and transport and storage at point of service delivery;

• Ramping up efforts with civil society and other local partners to ensure that people are well-informed about the Covid-19 vaccination process and putting measures in place to enhance trust and tackle misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines.

On August 20, the Gavi Secretariat and COVAX Facility has acknowledged receipt of the Expression of Interest (EOI) for Nepal to participate as an eligible country to access the Gavi Advance Market Commitment for Covid-19 Vaccines (Gavi COVAX AMC) – the ODA-supported financing instrument for the Covid-19 vaccine doses.

Finance Minister Dr Yuba Raj Khatiwada puts in paper

 Though, it was necessary as his tenure as the finance minister was coming to an end tomorrow, finance minister Dr Yuba Raj Khatiwada has resigned today.

Khatiwada – who was also looking after the Communication and Information Technology portfolio – today submitted his resignation to Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli. Earlier, Khatiwada on expiration of his tenure as a member of the National Assembly on March 3 had resigned from his post. But, as reappointed as the minister – within 24 hours – for an additional term of six months according to the constitutional provision. Had the government – led by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli – nominated him in the Upper House within 6 months, he could have continued as the minister. However, the meeting of the ruling party nominated party vice-chair Bam Dev Gautam to the National Assembly, which sent Khatiwada’s chances of reappointment crashing.

After his resignation, Khatiwada took part in a farewell programme organised at the Finance Ministry by the ministry. Khatiwada – addressing the farewell programme – said that he was able to lay a concrete foundation of the economy even during the most difficult days. Saying that the days ahead are challenging due to the effects of Covid-19 pandemic, Khatiwada boosted that he was able to bring significant improvements in revenue during his two-and-a-half year long stint as the finance minister. Khatiwada, who became one of the luckiest finance ministers to bring three consecutive budgets, failed measurably in bringing any reforms in public expenditure, budgetary allocations, economy or federal fiscal policies despite being the most favourite minister – of the almost two-third majority stable government – of Prime Minister Oli. Premier Oli wanted to retain him as finance minister by nominating again as a member of National Assembly but could not as he was forced to give in to the demand of the rival faction within the party to nominate NCP vice chair Bam Dev Gautam. 

A cabinet meeting held at the residence of Prime Minister Oli in Baluwatar today morning decided to recommend the name of Gautam to President Bidya Devi Bhandari for the appointment of a member of the National Assembly. The post was vacant after Khatiwada’s two-year term expired six months ago.

There is only one seat vacant in the National Assembly and the ruling NCP (NCP) yesterday decided to nominate party vice chair Gautam.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Oli has himself taken the responsibilities of both finance, and information and communications ministries.

Prohibitory order in Kathmandu valley extended with relaxation on development works

 The District Administration Offices of the three districts in Kathmandu valley decided to further extend the prohibitory order for yet another week, though they have vowed to relax development works.

A virtual meeting of the Chief District Officers (CDOs) of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur – after consulting with the Home Ministry – decided to extend the ban on movement for the third time.

But, they said that the time frame for purchasing essential goods has also been extended till 11am from the previous 9am. The authorities have also allowed shops and vehicles related to development works from 2pm to 9pm. “National pride projects and industries related to essential services can also operate by setting up quarantine facilities,” a press note issued by the Kathmandu district CDO reads. 

The CDOs have, however, changed the modality of prohibitory order at the request of the private sector. The private sector had recommended partial lifting of the prohibitory order to make people lives easier as they have been facing hardship due to absolute closure of all kinds of activities in last 15 days.

“Due to sharp spike in number of daily cases in the valley with a huge concentration of active cases,” the CDOs decided to extend the prohibitory order for another week,” the press note reads.

Earlier, the CDOs of the three districts in the valley had issued prohibitory order on August 19 and extended on August 27 again. “Prohibitory orders in Kathmandu Valley have once again been extended by another week–until September 9 midnight,” CDO of Lalitpur Narayan Prasad Bhatta said, adding that they are trying to make the restrictions more effective. “A standard for online home delivery is being prepared and home delivery will be allowed with strict implementation of the health protocol,” he said, adding that anyone wishing to enter the Valley for emergency work must have the coronavirus RT PCR negative report. “

Likewise, the local administrations in the Valley have also instructed the ward committee offices to monitor whether the people whose swabs have been taken for the coronavirus test and those on the list of contact tracing are living in home isolation. ““Those violating home quarantine rules will be punished as per the Infectious Disease Act 1964.”

Nepal asks Bangladesh to provide fertilizer

 Though the harvest season has almost come to an end, Nepal has asked Bangladesh to provide urea fertilizer on refundable basis.

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli while talking on telephone with the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina this afternoon sought Bangladesh’s support of 50,000 tonnes of urea fertilizer to Nepal on refundable basis, according to a press note issued by the Foreign Ministry.

Prime Minister Hasina positively took the request of Prime Minister Oli for supply of fertilizer to Nepal for this crop season, the press note reads. “Prime Minister Oli congratulated Prime Minister Hasina on Bangladesh’s success in becoming a food-surplus country,” the press note reads, adding that Nepal can benefit from Bangladesh’s success story in the field of agriculture. PM Oli – while sharing Nepal’s efforts for scaling up agricultural production, both for domestic consumption and export – commended Bangladesh for effectively containing the spread of coronavirus in Nepal.

Congratulating Prime Minister Hasina – on the occasion of the Birth Centenary of Bangbandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman today evening – Prime Minister Oli expressed thanks for the supply of 5,000 vials of Remdesivir injection and other essential medicines and medical logistics to Nepal. 

The two Prime Ministers also exchanged experience on the efforts made by their respective governments to fight against Covid-19 pandemic and agreed to strengthen cooperation to tackle this menace, the press note reads, adding that OM Oli also appreciated the steps taken by Bangladesh to contain the pandemic. “The Prime Minister Oli recalled the successful visit of the President of Bangladesh to Nepal last year.”

Recalling the fourth BIMSTEC summit held in Nepal, both the Prime Ministers shared views on enhancing regional cooperation for economic development and prosperity. The two Prime Ministers also exchanged views on various matters of common interests, including cooperation in power generation, grid connectivity and power supply from Nepal to Bangladesh, promotion of barrier-free and balanced trade between the two countries, improved transit facility for Nepal through Bangladesh, enhanced connectivity, promotion of tourism. “Prime Minister Oli thanked his Bangladeshi counterpart for providing a new railway route through Rohanpur (Bangladesh) to Singabad (India) railway line,” reads the press note.