kathmandu – Health supplies essential for the treatment and control of COVID-19 provided by Italy to Nepal arrived at Tribhuvan International Airport this morning.

The medical assistance includes 20 ventilators, 6,000 isolation gowns and 10,000 protective medical supplies.The medical goods were given to Nepal by Italy through the European Union’s Civil Protection Mechanism.

EU Ambassador to Nepal Nona Deprez handed over the assistance to Dr Roshan Pokharel, Chief Expert at the Ministry of Health and Population today itself.On the occasion, she said that the Union and its member countries were assisting Nepal to cope with the current COVID-19 crisis, adding that the assistance would help in the treatment and prevention of the pandemic and in the strengthening of Nepal’s public health sector.

On behalf of the Ministry, Dr Pokharel thanked Italy for extending helping hands to Nepal during these hard times.He vowed for right use and utilization of the assistance materials. As he said, the materials will be distributed to all provinces.

Prior to this, Nepal had received this kind of assistance from EU members Spain, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Malta, Denmark and Ireland, it is said.