SPAIN, Madrid: The Government of Spain, through the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (Spanish acronym: AECID), recently sent a humanitarian cargo to Nepal to help halt the spread of the pandemic in the country.
The shipment, sent from Madrid on a chartered flight landed on Thursday in Kathmandu, comprising 33 pallets, valued at around 1 million Euros. The shipment, with more than 5 tonnes of health material, includes 15 respirators, 10 oxygen concentrators, together with consumables and spare parts necessary for their use, 144,000 FFP2 face masks, and some 125,000 antigen tests. The material has been checked so that it is fit for immediate use upon arrival in Nepal. The equipment was donated by the Spanish Ministry of Health.
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The handover was witnessed on the ground at the Kathmandu airport by the Director of AECID, Mr. Magdy Martínez-Solimán, who held meetings with the Foreign Secretary and senior Public Health officials to assess the situation in the South Asian nation.
This aid, which was donated upon arrival to the Ministry of Health of Nepal, 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 Ministry of Public Health of Nepal a specialised medical training package in response to the pandemic, in collaboration with the Spanish Ministry of Health, the country’s large hospitals, and the Comunidades Autónomas.
Emergency repatriation
The plane used outbound for the delivery of the aid cargo also served inbound to repatriate Spaniards who were unable to return home due to the suspension of flights. The plane, indicated the Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, Arancha González Laya, repatriated “all those mountaineers and crew” that are in Nepal and wished to fly back to Spain. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported last week that 47 Spaniards, mainly located in the capital, Kathmandu, had expressed their wish to leave Nepal.
The logistics of this humanitarian and repatriation flight were coordinated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, and jointly implemented by the Directorate-General of Spaniards Abroad and Consular Affairs and the Aid Agency, AECID.
The shipment of this humanitarian equipment is in response to the call made by the Government of Nepal. The country has gone from a figure of daily infections of around 150 at the beginning of April to more than 9,000 in early May.
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