Nepal, a land-locked country surrounded by India from three sides, has been reeling under the acute scarcity of essential goods following the border blockade slapped by India.Officials at the MoHP said that they have been discussing about various alternatives, including taking help of the donor agencies. "If the ongoing border blockade continues, we will request aid agencies including WHO, Unicef, UNFPA and others for lifesaving drugs," Mahendra Shrestha, chief of the Management Division at the MoHP, said. He informed that the MoHP regularly holds discussion with stakeholders about possible crisis of lifesaving drugs in the country. The MoHP has also brought the problems created by the blockade to the notice of foreign ambassadors to Nepal.
According to Shrestha, the MoHP on Tuesday discussed about the stocks of medicines and possible crisis with the representatives of Department of Drug Administration (DDA) and Logistic Management Division (LMD).
The MoHP has already directed concerned agencies to keep a record of the stock of Indian drugs. Indian pharmaceutical companies supply about 60 percent of medicines needed in Nepal.
"We have discussed about the various alternatives including taking help of the aid agencies," Dr Bhim Singh Tinkery, director at the LMD, said. He said that the aid agencies will airlift the medicines if the government makes a formal request to them. "They have supported us in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake of April 25 and will support us in the time of crisis," he added.
Meanwhile, the LMD said that it has supplied the medicines received in donation in the aftermath of massive earthquake to all five regional medical stores. "But we are unable to supply medicines to the health facilities due to poor security situation and fuel crisis," added Dr Tinkery. Health centers across the Tarai region have been facing acute scarcity of essential drugs, as indefinite Tarai banda has been continuing for over last 50 days.
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