WITHOUT F EAR OR FAVOUR Nepal’s largest selling English daily Vol XXIX No. 60 | 8 pages | Rs.5 O O Printed simultaneously in Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Bharatpur and Nepalgunj 36.5 C 2.5 C Monday, April 19, 2021 | 06-01-2078 Dhangadi Jumla In MCC, Oli sees a chance to play domestic and geopolitical games The prime minister is using the American aid not only to rein in opponents in his party but also to curry favour with international power centres, analysts and insiders say. ANIL GIRI & PRITHVI MAN SHRESTHA him, were forced to return to the UML KATHMANDU, APRIL 18 after the court’s March 7 decision. Amid the fluid political situation in Last year, the Millennium Challenge Nepal, Oli has now suddenly brought Corporation’s Nepal Compact became up the MCC compact. After insinuat- the top agenda item at the Central ing that House Speaker Agni Sapkota Committee meeting of the then Nepal is to blame for the MCC not moving Communist Party (NCP), with a forward in the House on Wednesday, majority of members voicing their Oli on Saturday, at an all-party meet- opposition to endorsing the pro- ing, again accused the Speaker of dil- gramme in its current form. ly-dallying the American programme. Those objecting to the United States Oli even threatened to seek an alterna- programme under which Nepal will tive to Sapkota if he fails to present the receive a $500 million grant were some MCC to vote in Parliament by Tuesday. CPN-UML leaders and a majority of Why Oli is suddenly making a push the Communist Party of Nepal for the MCC now, however, has (Maoist Centre) leaders. The two par- intrigued many. ties had united in May 2018 to form the According to analysts, Oli seems Nepal Communist Party (NCP). to be trying to use the American POST PHOTO: DEEPAK KC But the Supreme Court on programme for his convenience in A woman writes a message on an art installation by Rabindra Shreshta at Maitighar in Kathmandu on Sunday to express solidarity with the March 7 this year scrapped the domestic politics and to reassure democratic movement against the brutal military crackdown in Myanmar. Shrestha sourced the boat from Nagdaha, Lalitpur and decorated it Nepal Communist Party (NCP) international power centres of his with paint and flowers as condolence for the hundreds who have lost their lives in the Southeast Asian country since the February 1 coup. and revived the UML and the allegiance to them. Maoist Centre. With the Maoist “Oli has been pushing for the Centre yet to withdraw the sup- endorsement of the MCC for his own port it lent to Oli in February gains in domestic politics by taking 2018, Oli is comfortably leading advantage of the geopolitical situa- the government. tions–the antagonistic relationships INSIDE Vaccination rate dismal even Oli’s opponents like Madhav between China and the US and China Kumar Nepal and Jhala Nath and India,” said Hari Roka, a political Khanal, who had sided with economist. Thunderbolts getting as cases are surging with only Pushpa Kamal Dahal to unseat >> Continued on page 2 deadlier each year as country remains unprepared KATHMANDU: On Thursday, an elderly 100,000 taking Chinese shots woman at Shadananda Municipality in Bhojpur was critically injured by a lightning strike. The 60-year-old Poor planning on accessibility, target groups, and awareness succumbed to her injuries at a local health facility. On the same day, a campaign; and vaccine hesitancy cited as reasons. nine-year-old girl from Asine village of Chhathar Rural Municipality-6 in Tehrathum also died after being hit by lightning. On Friday, a man in his forties was struck by a lightning bolt at Tarakhola Rural Municipality in Baglung district. These are the three casualties reported by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority in the period of 24-hours between Thursday and Friday. The Authority also reported several lightning-related incidents across the country including the Kathmandu Valley. (Details on Pg 3) Telemedicine service benefits Karnali folk BIRENDRANAGAR: Two weeks ago, POST PHOTO: BEEJU MAHARJAN People line up at a hospital in Lalitpur for Covid-19 jabs on Sunday. 12-year-old Basun Rokaya of Tripurasundari Municipality Ward ARJUN POUDEL No. 6 in Dolpa got his hand fractured. here either.” KATHMANDU, APRIL 18 His parents were worried about his It is not that Nepal has run out of treatment, as the Dolpa District vaccines. Hospital does not have an orthopae- On Sunday 57-year-old Dibya Devi Although Nepal began its vaccina- dic specialist. But the hospital suc- Kshetri reached Nepal Police Hospital tion campaign on January 27 with ceeded in treating the boy through at Maharajgunj in Kathmandu to get Covishield [AstraZeneca] vaccine telemedicine services. Dr Subodh vaccinated against Covid-19. manufactured in India, with its stock Shrestha, orthopaedic specialist at The line of people waiting to get depleted and no certainty when the the Provincial Hospital in Surkhet, inoculated was a long one. After she additional doses will be available instructed the health workers at the waited for several hours in the queue, again, it stopped vaccinating people Dolpa hospital with the help of elec- staff at the hospital told her and the with the AstraZeneca vaccine, and tronic communications and treated others not to wait, as the hospital did began using the 800,000 doses of the boy. Telemedicine services were not have sufficient doses of the Covid-19 vaccine provided by China introduced in the District Hospital of Chinese vaccine to inoculate them. under grant assistance from April 7. Dolpa a month ago. Before the intro- “I waited more than three hours for But only around 100,000 of the duction of the service, people in far- the vaccine and then they said that we Chinese vaccines had been used as of flung villages were compelled to visit should not wait for the jabs,” Kshetri Sunday, according to Jhalak Gautam, city areas to seek medical help, as the complained. “I would not have come chief of the National Immunisation district hospital did not provide spe- and waited for hours had they Programme. informed me that they did not have “Despite having thousands of doses cialist services. (Details on Pg 2) sufficient doses.” of vaccine in stock, we have not been And then the hospital administra- able to immunise our people,” Dr GD US, China agree to cooperate tion asked over 300 people, who Thakur, former director at the reached the hospital seeking immuni- Epidemiology and Disease Control on climate crisis with urgency sation, to wait. It sent hospital staff to Division, told the Post. “What could be SEOUL: The United States and China, the central vaccine storage site at a shameful failure than this. It is not the world’s two biggest carbon pollut- Teku to bring more vaccines and final- because we do not have vaccines, ers, agreed to cooperate to curb cli- ly inoculated them. capacity and human resources but mate change with urgency, just days Kshetri was one of them but people in authority are not taking the before President Joe Biden hosts a others elsewhere had to return home risk seriously.” virtual summit of world leaders to without getting immunised against The reason for such a low intake discuss the issue. The agreement was Covid-19 from centres like Om although this phase of the vaccination reached by US special envoy for cli- Hospital, Kathmandu and Nepal campaign ended Sunday seems to be mate John Kerry and his Chinese Mediciti Hospital, Lalitpur because of inadequate planning by authorities. counterpart Xie Zhenhua during two lack of vaccines there unless they The government first targeted all days of talks in Shanghai last week, persisted and went around looking essential workers, who the govern- according to a joint statement. The where they could get immunised. ment defined as postal and telephone two countries “are committed to coop- “My husband and I waited hours service providers, public transport erating with each other and with at Nepal Mediciti Hospital to get a workers; water supply and distribu- other countries to tackle the climate coupon to get inoculated,” a woman in tion staff; tourism sector—hotels and crisis, which must be addressed with mid-30s, who is pursuing higher edu- restaurants—employees, and workers the seriousness and urgency that it cation in China, told the Post, asking engaged in production, sale and distri- demands,” said the statement, issued not to be named. bution of medicines, electricity sup- on Saturday evening US time. But when they couldn’t get a cou- ply, storage and transportation of con- Meeting with reporters in Seoul on pon, they tried their luck elsewhere. sumer goods; businessmen and truck Sunday, Kerry said the language in “We came to Police Hospital, as we drivers who need to travel to China the statement is “strong” and that the could not get a coupon at Mediciti frequently; and Nepali students pur- two countries agreed on “critical ele- since the queue was too long and peo- suing higher education in China but ments on where we have to go.” ple started to quarrel,” she said. stuck in Nepal due to the pandemic. (Details on Pg 6) “But it was not easy to get shots >> Continued on page 2 C M Y K MONDAY, APRIL 19, 2021 | 02 NATIONAL BRIEFING Telemedicine service benefits Karnali folk Vaccination Missing man’s mobile found Residents of remote villages can easily access specialist services after the service was launched in 42 health institutions. rate dismal ... SINDHUPALCHOK: Police have detained CHANDANI KATHAYAT ing specialist services these days, as “Specialists and health workers can Care” has been developed to keep a a man from Kavrepalanchok to inves- >> CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 tigate the whereabouts of Pujan Rai, BIRENDRANAGAR, APRIL 18 telemedicine service was launched in discuss the health issues and solve record of the patients in the province.