By Our Reporter
Nepali Army has finally inked an agreement with China Sino-Farm International Corporation, China’s state-owned company, for the procurement of medical equipment and kits required for the diagnosis and treatment of coronavirus.
With the formal agreement reached between the NA and the Corporation officials on April 19, within a week the NA is importing its first lot of essential and prioritised medical equipment from chartered flights of Nepal Airlines and Shree Airlines, said the NA.
NA said the medical goods weighing 342 tonnes will be brought in a phase-wise and priority basis, as all the purchased goods cannot be brought collectively, Brigadier General and Army Headquarters spokesperson Bigyan Dev Pandey said in a video teleconference Tuesday.
The total cost of purchased goods is Rs 2.25 billion (184 million USD) which include 67 items. There will be over 200,000 pieces of personal protective equipment (PPE).
The payment for the goods was made to the Company from Nepal Rastra Bank under the consent of the Ministry of Finance and as per the terms of condition the payment for the goods should have been delivered to the Company within two days of the agreement, according to the Army.
Authority from China Sino-Farm International Corporation and Adjutant General and Master General of Ordinance (MGO) Prabhuram Sharma of Nepali Army signed the agreement from two sides.
China Sino-Farm International Corporation is the state-owned company that is undertaken by the Ministry of Commerce of China, according to Brigadier General Pandey.
The government has given the responsibility to buy medicines and kits to Army after the contract with Omni group was dragged into controversy last month.
The agreement to procure medical goods from China was made under the government-to-government model as per the Cabinet decision made on March 29.
The goods were purchased under certification of National Medical Product Administration (NMPA) of China for ensuring the quality of the goods, according to Pandey. NMPA is a quality assurance certification ensured by the government of China before its export abroad.
Without having this NMPA certified trade mark no medical goods can be exported to any country and no custom clearance granted from China, according to the NA.
Besides Nepal, the China Sino-Farm International Corporation has been exporting the same types of medical goods to 80 other countries.
In one chartered flight, the wide-body of Nepal Airlines can carry only 18-20 tonnes of goods, so there is a need to conduct at least 18 to 19 chartered flights to bring all 342 tons of goods,” Pandey said.
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