The Nepal Army (NA) has written to five countries for procurement of medical supplies.
It has written to China, South Korea, Singapore, Israel and India on the basis of the list of supplies prepared by the COVID-19 Crisis Management Center (CCMC), according to NA Spokesperson Bigyan Dev Pandey.
"We have received information that the Foreign Ministry forwarded the letter we drafted yesterday," Pandey told Setopati. "Procurement process will start on the basis of response we receive on the list of necessary medical supplies."
He added that initiative has already been taken by the Nepali military attaché in the respective countries.
There is little chance of getting the supplies in needed quantities though as India has already banned export of supplies while cases are again rising in South Korea.
The government last Wednesday unilaterally revoked the contract with Omni Group, that had brought the first lot of medical materials from China three days earlier, citing the latter's inability to bring additional materials. Omni Group, with no previous experience in medical supplies, was given the contract without any bidding process in a process that lacked transparency.
It has since decided to hand over the responsibility of bringing the materials to the Nepal Army through government to government arrangements. The decision to ask the army to bring in the medical supplies has also been widely criticized.
