WITHOUT F EAR OR FAVOUR Nepal’s largest selling English daily Vol XXIX No. 35 | 10 pages | Rs.5 O O Printed simultaneously in Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Bharatpur and Nepalgunj 36.4 C 5.0 C Thursday, March 25, 2021 | 12-12-2077 Janakpur Jumla Which party those elected under Nepal Communist Party now represent? Analysts say they have freedom to choose between the UML and Maoist Centre but don’t rule out complications. BINOD GHIMIRE spokesperson for the Parliament KATHMANDU, MARCH 24 Secretariat. The March 7 court decision to On March 20, when Prime Minister revive the UML and the Maoist Centre and CPN-UML chair KP Sharma Oli has led to political complications and called a meeting of the Parliamentary one of them is the status of those who Party, some members like Bamdev were elected under the Nepal Gautam from the National Assembly Communist Party (NCP) ticket. POST PHOTO: DIPENDRA ROKKA and Bidhya Bhattarai from the House Passing a verdict on an almost three- A section of the under-construction Tika Bhairav-Lele road at Faidol in Lalitpur. of Representatives were present. year-old case, the Supreme Court Earlier this week, Narayan Kaji scrapped the Nepal Communist Party Shrestha, a member of the National (NCP), saying a party with a similar Assembly was present in the meeting name was already registered with the of the Parliamentary Party of the Election Commission, and revived the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist UML and the Maoist Centre. Vaccines from Bahrain likely to be used along with China-gifted jabs Centre). The court had also ordered the Ever since the Supreme Court Election Commission to initiate the decided to scrap the Nepal Communist process of merger between the two Nepal is bringing Sinopharm vaccines, the same one the Bahraini prince brought, next week. But reports suggest three Party (NCP) and revive the UML and parties, if they wish to merge, within the Maoist Centre, both have been 15 days, in such a way that no existing doses might be needed because the Chinese shots in some cases have not generated enough protective antibodies. holding the meeting of their parlia- laws are violated. mentary parties separately. >> Continued on page 2 ARJUN POUDEL ried around 2,000 doses of coronavirus approval to the Sinopharm vaccine, arrive on Monday, as the government There, however, is confusion KATHMANDU, MARCH 24 vaccine, which were said to be admin- but not a single dose had arrived in has decided to send a plane to China about some members like istered to locals of Samagaun, a vil- the country so far until it was revealed on Sunday to fly them in. Gautam, Bhattarai and Shrestha, After weeks of confusion over the lage in Gorkha district. that what the Bahraini prince carried The officials told the Post on and 16 others as there is no coronavirus vaccines, around 2,000 But the Department of Drug to Nepal was of that type. China has Wednesday that plans are afoot to use clarity as to which party they doses, brought to Nepal from Bahrain, Administration launched a probe into committed to providing 800,000 the vaccines brought to Nepal by the actually represent in the federal the government is mulling over using how the vaccines, which were said to Sinopharm vaccine doses to Nepal. Bahrain prince when they start parliament, as they were elected them when it starts administering the be the AstraZeneca type, arrived in “The vaccines [from Bahrain] are administering the Chinese vaccines. on the Nepal Communist Party jabs provided by the Chinese govern- Nepal without permission. Just as the with us. We will use them along with It, however, is not clear whether the (NCP) ticket. ment under grant assistance. investigation was ongoing, it was other doses provided by China,” Dr vaccines brought by the Bahraini “Deciding the status of law- Bahraini prince Mohamed Hamad found that the vaccines were from Roshan Pokhrel, chief specialist at the prince would be administered to the makers who won as Mohamed al-Khalifa and his retinue China—the BBIBP-CorV vaccine Health Ministry, told the Post. people of the village in Gorkha as the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) landed in Nepal on March 15 for an (CoronaVac) developed by Sinopharm. Officials at the Health Ministry royal family member wished to. candidates is a complex Everest expedition. The prince car- Nepal has granted emergency use have said the Chinese vaccine will >> Continued on page 2 task,” said Rojnath Pandey, C M Y K THURSDAY, MARCH 25, 2021 | 02 NATIONAL Pregnant women in rural areas are risking their lives with home births Home deliveries are still a popular option in the rural areas of Baglung due to a lack of awareness among the local population, health officials say. PRAKASH BARAL rescue pregnant women from reported in the local body. BAGLUNG, MARCH 24 Badigad to well-facilitated hos- “It is difficult to bring all pitals,” said Mehar Singh Paija, pregnant women to birthing Last month, a 35-year-old post- chairman of Badigad Rural centres due to geographical partum woman and a newborn Municipality. remoteness. So health workers died in Badigad Rural In the current fiscal year, the should launch a door-to-door Municipality due to delivery rural municipality rescued campaign to save the lives of complications. seven pregnant and postpartum newborns and postpartum In January, a 31-year-old preg- women from the rural munici- mothers,” said Kandel. nant woman from Tamankhola pality after they faced delivery In accordance with the deci- Wad No. 2 died after getting an complications. sion of the local unit, health abortion in a private medical. In January, 35-year-old workers have launched an Another 40-year-old pregnant Pushpa Shreesa of Badigad-8 awareness campaign across the woman from Dhorpatan also lost her child to delivery rural municipality. Gyanu Municipality Ward No. 8 also complications at home. Rana, an auxiliary health work- died of complications in home “Home births are still com- er at Ranasinkiteni Health Post, delivery. mon in rural areas. To end the said that health workers visit According to the District practice, we have started collect- pregnant women at their door- Health Office in Baglung, it ing the names of pregnant steps and advise them to get faces challenges when it comes women. We advise them to visit institutional delivery at the to bringing rural women to health institutions for pregnan- nearest health institution. health posts for pre-and post-na- cy check-ups,” said Chudamani The District Health Office has tal care and for institutional Kandel, chief at the health sec- established 54 birthing centres deliveries. tion of the rural municipality. across Baglung. Of them, 10 On Sunday, Badigad Rural Badigad Rural Municipality birthing centres are in Badigad. Municipality issued a public has identified 46 expecting “We can easily save the lives POST PHOTO: BEEJU MAHARJAN notice following an increase in mothers who are due before of pregnant women who visit A man pumps water into a tanker at Chobhar, Kathmandu before delivery to various parts of the Valley. the number of maternal and mid-July. Health workers have birthing centres for delivery. neonatal deaths in the local been instructed to visit them on However, we need to bring about unit. In the notice, the rural a regular basis to avoid any more awareness so that women municipality has requested the unforeseen pregnancy compli- don’t hesitate to visit these public to take pregnant women cations. birthing centres,” said Ganesh to health institutions for regu- Pregnant women in rural Baruwal, manager of the com- lar pregnancy check-ups and areas mostly opt for home births munity health reform project. Karnali Academy of Health have their delivery at birthing since they do not have access to “Home deliveries are still a centres. health institutions due to geo- popular option in the rural “The rural municipality in graphical remoteness. areas of Baglung due to a lack the current fiscal year has According to Kandel, a few inci- of awareness among the local Sciences starts MD course already spent Rs 1.5 million to dents of negligence were also population.” However, the launch of MBBS classes at the academy is still uncertain despite the institution’s claim that it has completed the necessary preparations. Vaccines from Bahrain likely ... >> Continued from page 1 convince the people to take the Chinese vaccines LP DEVKOTA “The government will decide where the doses amid reports that people might need to take even JUMLA, MARCH 24 [from Bahrain] will be used,” Pokhrel told the Post. the third dose of Sinopharm, unlike in the case of “The vaccine can’t be provided to a particular vil- the AstraZeneca vaccine which should be adminis- Karnali Academy of Health Sciences in lage just because it has been chosen by the donor tered twice in a span of 8 to 12 weeks. Jumla has started conducting classes for the [prince al-Khalifa].” According to reports in The Washington Post postgraduate (MD) degree under medical The vaccines arriving from China could be a and Wall Street Journal, the United Arab Emirates, sciences. shot in the arm for Nepal which has been forced to which was among the first countries to adopt The Medical Education Commission has suspend its vaccination drive, which started on Sinopharm vaccines, the Chinese shot is not ade- allocated five quotas for the programme that January 27, after the supplies stopped. quately generating antibody response after two started on March 14. Nepal so far has vaccinated a little over 1.7 mil- doses. “There are three quotas in general prac- lion people and the government says it currently Despite Nepal not having a huge vaccine hesi- tice medicine and one each in anaesthesia has around 600,000 doses in its stock.