KATHMANDU: A Nepal Airlines charter flight arrived in Kathmandu from Singapore with more than 13 tons of Medical cargo for combating the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
This was made possible by donations from Temasek Foundation Singapore, Lotus Life Foundation Singapore and Gorkha Brewery Pvt. Ltd in close collaboration with the Government of Nepal, various ministries, diplomatic missions, and Nepali diaspora.
The cargo with a combined estimated value of 3 million Singapore dollars (around NPR 250 million) was handed over to Hridayesh Tripathi, Minister of Health & Population, MoHP) by Surendra Silwal, Deputy Managing Director of Gorkha Brewery on behalf of the two donors at a brief ceremony today at the Ministry of Health and Population.
It includes more than 123,000 Fortitude 3.0 PCR tests designed by Singapore’s Agency of Science, Technology and Research (A* Star),5000boxes of Citotest swab kits (2,50,000 kits), 2 Magec32 RNA extraction machines,2500 extraction kits and reagents, 30Alpha tele-ventilators, 6 Philips TrilogyEvo Ventilators, 50 Yuwell Bi-PAP non-invasive ventilators and 4000 pulse oximeters.
A second cargo of additional medical supplies is expected to arrive from Singapore to Nepal in the coming weeks.
Benedict Cheong, Chief Executive Officer Temasek Foundation International in a statement said ‘The latest waves from multiple variants of Covid-19 have shown that we need to continue working together to save lives and bring the pandemic under control. Temasek Foundation stands in solidarity with our friends and neighbors in Nepal to fight the global war against the pandemic.’
The Singapore-based Temasek Foundation has previously provided Fortitude 2.0 PCR Covid-19 diagnostic test kits and oxygen concentrators to MoHP in 2020.
They have also supported the Ministry in education and training programs on disaster management following the 2015 earthquakes.
Health Minister of Nepal, Mr. Hrideyesh Tripati expressed his appreciation regarding the donation made by Temasek Foundation, Lotus Life Foundation, and Gorkha Brewery, Pvt. Ltd.
“In this extremely challenging time, I am extremely grateful for the generous support made by the three companies for the Covid-19 relief and would like to assure that the donated health equipment will be distributed amongst various hospitals as per the priority without any delay to accelerate Covid-19 treatment throughout the country.
In this demanding time where the cases are rising, we hope to get continuous support from Gorkha Brewery in the future as well.”
During the handover program, Mr. Silwal expressed his satisfaction in being able to help the Nepal Government with equipment that can be put to immediate use for the control and treatment of COVID patients during this unprecedented pandemic.
He expressed confidence that the Nepal Government would expedite and prioritize the distribution of the equipment to various hospitals urgently. Gorkha Brewery has supported Nepal Government and various other sectors on a regular basis during difficulties and crisis situations in the past as well. In the aftermath of the 2015 earthquake, Gorkha Brewery aided in the restoration process by donating Rs 100 million to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund.
Lotus Life Foundation Singapore thanked Temasek Foundation and the Government of Nepal for collaborating in this important humanitarian mission and hoped that the equipment will assist frontline healthcare workers to control the pandemic which has already claimed more than 6000 lives in Nepal.
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