Spain provides humanitarian aid to Nepal to tackle COVID-19

ByLaxman Datt Pant

Spain provides humanitarian aid to Nepal to tackle COVID-19

The Government of Spain, through the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), has provided humanitarian aid to Nepal to help the country to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. The medical equipment including respirators, oxygen concentrators, antigen test kits, and personal protective equipment (PPE) arrived at Tribhuwan International Airport (TIA) in Kathmandu this afternoon in a humanitarian cargo shipped from Madrid in Spain.

The goods were handed over to Hridayesh Tripathi, the Minister for Health and Population of Nepal. Also present were Nona Deprez, Ambassador of the EU to Nepal, Magdy Martínez-Solimán, Director of AECID, and Dawa F. Sherpa, Ambassador of Nepal to Spain. AECID Director Solimán then held meetings with the foreign secretary and senior public health officials of Nepal to assess the situation across the country.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population of Nepal (MoHP), the shipment included 33 pallets, valued at approximately €1 million, carrying more than five tonnes of health products including 15 respirators and 10 oxygen concentrators, together with consumables and the spare parts necessary for their use, 144,000 FFP2 face masks and a total of 125,000 antigen tests.

This humanitarian support is framed as part of the humanitarian response of the European Union’s Team Europe to jointly support the most vulnerable countries in the fight against COVID-19. AECID has also offered the MoHP a specialized medical training package in response to the pandemic in collaboration with the Spanish Ministry of Health.

The shipment of humanitarian equipment is in response to the call made by the Government of Nepal after the country saw the number of daily infections increase from around 200 at the beginning of April to more than 9,000 in early May.

On May 19, Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nepal, held a telephone conversation with Arancha Gonzalez Laya, Minister for External Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of Spain, to discuss various aspects of Nepal-Spain relations including the current COVID-19 pandemic situation.

Thanking the Government of Spain for its support in the form of medical equipment, Minister Gyawali stated that the support from Spain will play a significant part in tackling the second wave of COVID-19 in Nepal. Similarly, Minister Laya assured Nepal of the continued cooperation of her government at the bilateral level as well as through the EU.

Meanwhile, the plane that delivered the aid cargo was also used to repatriate as many as 40 Spaniards who had been unable to return home due to the suspension of flights following the COVID-19 prohibitory orders imposed on April 29 in Nepal. The logistics of this humanitarian and repatriation flight were coordinated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and jointly implemented by the Directorate-General of Spaniards Abroad and Consular Affairs and the Aid Agency, AECID.

According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, chartered flights to Qatar on May 22 and May 25 have been approved to rescue stranded foreign nationals in Nepal. While all commercial international flights were suspended until May 30, by May 19 the TIA has recorded a total of 13 chartered flights operating to rescue stranded foreigners.