Process to bring Nepalese from China delayed due to lack of coordination, airplane ready to fly
Kathmandu, February 11
The process to bring Nepalese from China after the outbreak of coronavirus has been delayed due to the lack of proper coordination among the various ministries.
Yogesh Bhattarai, Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, rose the issue that Nepalese residing in Wuhan and other provinces of China should be brought. He also informed that the plane is ready for the purpose on February 1. However, it has been 10 days but the Nepal Government is still undecided.
Following the huge increase in the illness and fear around the world, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli ordered the Ministry of Health and Population, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation to complete the process. However, it has yet to be confirmed when the Nepalese residing in China will be brought back to Nepal.
Ministry of Health and Population informed that it has prepared everything, including venue, medical teams, and ambulance among others.
On the other hand, Ministry of Home Affairs also informed that it has done all sorts of preparations. Ministry of Home Affairs' spokesperson Kedarnath Sharma said that their work is to provide security and bring Nepalese from airport to the place of quarantine.
Ironically, Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation's Secretary Kedar Bahadur Adhikari claimed that the ministry has no any responsibilities in fetching the Nepalese from China and rather told to ask to the Ministry of Health and Population. The Ministry of Home Affairs was not available for the comment.
However, the Ministry of Health and Population informed that it cannot do everything alone. Mahendra Shrestha, spokesperson of the Ministry of Health and Population, said Hamro Doctor News that coordination among all the ministries was important since the Prime Minister himself ordered them. He also claimed that he was unaware about other ministries preparations.
Nepal Airlines Corporation informed that Wide-body A-330 is ready to fly to China. Nepal Airlines Corporation's spokesperson Archana Khadka informed that internal preparations to fly to China to bring the Nepalese back have been done.
