KATHMANDU, 21 June 2021, (TON): Nepal received 982 units of 10-litre oxygen concentrators, financed by the World Bank today. The concentrators are part of a long-term solution for augmenting Nepal's capacity to supply therapeutic oxygen to public health facilities thereby providing a stronger response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Minister of Health and Population, Sher Bahadur Tamang said "I am very pleased that we have been able to quickly bring in the oxygen concentrators, which will be dispatched to health facilities across the country."

The government is working hard to strengthen availability of medical oxygen in all public health facilities so that every Nepali citizen requiring oxygen is able to access it.

The oxygen concentrators were procured through UNOPS under the World Bank-financed COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health Systems Preparedness Project, which also financed seven oxygen generation plants, one for each province in Nepal.

These plants will be brought in, installed and operationalised by UNOPS in a phased manner in seven provincial hospitals, in the next six to 15 weeks.

The COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health Systems Preparedness Project is supporting the purchase and deployment of COVID-19 vaccines for prioritised Nepali citizens, health system strengthening towards a robust public health response to the pandemic, community engagement and risk communication, and strengthening existing digital technology-based pandemic data, surveillance and monitoring systems.