KATHMANDU, June 9: Expressing strong dissatisfaction over the arrangements made by the government to deal with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the main opposition party, Nepali Congress (NC), has decided to submit a memorandum to Prime Minister KP Oli to make the government's COVID-19 response effective. 

A Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting of the party held on Monday made the decision to submit the memorandum under the leadership of senior leader Ram Chandra Paudel after concluding that the government's response to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic was far from being effective. 

NC CWC member Ramesh Lekhak said the meeting concluded that the government's failure to deal with the pandemic was exposed by its inability to supply adequate medical essentials, corruption in the procurement of the medical supplies, failure to set up quarantine facilities as per the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria and scarcity of testing kits to conduct tests of COVID-19 even among those kept in quarantine facilities. 

The NC also concluded that the government had failed to properly manage those returning home from abroad and distribute relief materials to the needy people in a fair manner. "Nepali Congress has concluded that the government had totally failed in regard to containing coronavirus in Nepal. The main reasons behind this is failure to import medical essentials on time and corruption in the procurement of medical essentials. Hundreds of thousands of people are currently in quarantine. But the quarantine facilities are managed very poorly," he said. 

The CWC meeting organized to hold discussion on the COVID-19 pandemic and the government’s responses concluded that the government had failed to act as a guardian to protect the people's lives and property. "The government has failed to connect itself with the people even during this crisis. NC has taken this issue seriously," Lekhak further said. “We are connected with the people during this crisis. Our party leaders and activists and our public relations committees abroad have been working actively in their respective areas.”

The NC CWC meeting has also asked the government to provide relief packages to industrialists and health protection equipment to those working on the frontline during the COVID-19 pandemic such as health workers, sanitation workers, security personnel, elected representatives of local bodies and medical persons.

 
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