Coca-Cola and Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS) have commenced the second phase of handing over safety gears and equipment to various hospitals and volunteers to enhance the safety of health workers, patients and volunteers working at frontline amidst Covid-19 pandemic.

The total value of the equipments to be handed over to the Government of Nepal for use in various hospitals is aprrox Rs. 1.4 crores. Under this partnership, ventilators will be handed over to the major hospitals in all the seven provinces of the country and personal safety equipment will be handed over to the health workers and volunteers.

The second phase of the safety gears & equipment distribution campaign kicked off today in the presence of Minister for Health and Population Bhanubhakta Dhakal at the Ministry of Health and Population premise.

Appreciating the joint efforts for the second phase, Minister Dhakal expressed his commitment to distribute ventilators provided by Red Cross in collaboration with Coca-Cola. The plan is to provide ventilators in major hospitals of all seven provinces. Expecting the health ordinance brought by the government to ease the fight against the pandemic, Minister Dhakal said at the handover ceremony, “The cooperation and support of all stakeholders as our obligation to fight the pandemic amidst various shortages is commendable.”

Minister Dhakal handed over the equipment provided by NRCS and Coca-Cola to the Sagar Rajkarnikar, Director, Sukraraj Tropical and Communicable Diseases Hospital, Teku. The handover ceremony was held in the presence of Acting Chairperson of Nepal Red Cross Society Sarmila Karki, General Secretary Pitamber Aryal, Executive Director. Umesh Prasad Dhakal, Central Member Dipendra Dhakal, Director Pawan Gupta and. Irina Karki, Country PACS Manager and Hari Sharma Neupane, Human Resource Director on behalf of Coca-Cola including 100 set safety glasses, 120 Box Surgical mask, 150 set PPE, 50 box gloves and 200 set KN 95 masks.

Similarly, 48,000 units of surgical masks, 1,600 units of KN-95 Masks, 550 sets of PPE, 400 pairs of safety glasses and 10,000 pairs of gloves along with one ventilator each will be handed over to the designated hospitals in seven provinces within the next two weeks. Arrangements have been made to handover the equipments to Koshi Zonal Hospital Morang, Narayani Sub-Regional Hospital Parsa, Bharatpur Hospital Chitwan, Pokhara Health Science Hospital Kaski, Bheri Zonal Hospital Banke, Midwest Regional Hospital Surkhet and Seti Zonal Hospital Kailali.

“As Nepal fights to contain COV1D-19, we all need to ensure there is ample support provided to the Government. Coca-Cola’s partnership with Nepal Red Cross provides safety gear for front line workers and ventilators for the treatment of patients”, said Pradip Pandey, Managing Director of Bottlers Nepal Limited.

"This partnership between Nepal Red Cross Society and Coca-Cola in Nepal is an effort to prevent and control the spread of Corona and protect frontline health workers and patients," Nepal Red Cross Society’s Acting Chairperson Sarmila Karki said.

Speaking on the occasion Nepal Red Cross Society, General Secretary Pitamabar Aryal said that they were working in collaborations with Nepal Government and others stakeholders to prevent and control the spread of Covid-19. The partnership with Coca-Cola is to support with safety gears to frontline health workers and to all people who come for Covid treatment.