China foundation launches community oxygen station program to help Nepal curb COVID-19

Patients infected with COVID-19 are seen outside the corridor of a hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal, on May 11, 2021. (Photo by Sulav Shrestha/Xinhua)

KATHMANDU, May 23 (Xinhua) -- The Nepal Office of the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation (CFPA) on Sunday launched an Emergency Community Oxygen Station program to help the Himalayan country fight a second wave of COVID-19.

In coordination with local governments, CFPA Nepal is planning to support more than 10 communities with medical equipment in the Kathmandu Valley, the Bagmati province and Province 2, the foundation's Nepal Office said in a press release.

The foundation has handed over 20 oxygen cylinders, each with a capacity of 40L, 200 personal protective equipment, 100 face shields, 1,000 masks and two sanitation machines for community disinfection to Ward No. 17 of the Kathmandu Metropolitan City, while five oxygen cylinders with the same capacity and some medical materials were sent to the city's Ward No. 19.

The targeted areas are tourist attractions as well as densely populated wards in the Nepali capital.

"This program had been carried out as a prompt response to the second wave of COVID-19 in Nepal," said Zou Zhiqiang, the country director of CFPA Nepal.

Zou spoke of front-line doctors failing to save lives due to the lack of oxygen cylinders, biomedical equipment and medicines as the raging coronavirus is sickening more people and leaving more dead.

"More than 100,000 low-income people will benefit from our program," Zou said. "Now our program mainly focuses on building oxygen stations for civilians who desperately need oxygen."

Receiving CFPA supplies, Nabin Manandhar, Ward No. 17 president, expressed his gratitude to the Chinese people and the CFPA for their prompt support at a crucial time.

He also recalled support given by the foundation when a devastating earthquake hit Nepal in 2015 and when coronavirus first ravaged the country last year.

"Thanks for CFPA Nepal Office which has always stood with Nepal at challenging times -- from earthquake, flood to this pandemic," he added.

In the next phase of its program, the CFPA will launch disinfection for communities, food pack distribution and schoolbag distribution with sanitation items.

On Sunday, Nepal registered 7,598 new COVID-19 cases and 193 new deaths, bringing the national tally to 513,241 and the total death toll to 6,346.