KATHMANDU, JANUARY 15

The main opposition CPN-UML today submitted a 22-point memorandum to Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba urging him to provide COVID-19 vaccines to all age groups immediately.

UML leaders Subas Chandra Nembang and Yogesh Bhattarai submitted the memorandum to the PM reminding him of the work the UML government had done to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. The main opposition asked the government to provide booster shots to the public immediately. The party also demanded free care for all COV- ID-19 patients. It told the government to ensure adequate supply of vaccines and to increase storage capacity.

The UML asked the government to set up holding and testing centres at border entry points in coordination with the lower tiers of government. It also demanded provision for COV- ID-19 dedicated hospitals and coordinated mobilisation of government and private hospitals and medical colleges.

It advised the government to carry out tracing and testing at the local levels under the command of public health officers, adding that there should be mobile teams to provide vaccines to the public across the country.

The main opposition party urged the government to provide vaccines to children, pregnant women, elderly citizens, differently-abled people and incapacitated people at their homes so that they didn't have to walk up to the vaccine centres.

The party also asked the government to carry out research-oriented programmes related to COVID-19.

The UML wanted the government to launch special economic package to help the economy deal with the adverse impacts of the pandemic. The party asked the government to talk to foreign countries to protect Nepali migrants' health in the face of the surge in COVID-19 positivity rate.

The party said that when its Chair KP Sharma Oli was the prime minister, his government had made adequate arrangements to deal with COVID-19, but this government, which found many of the much-needed infrastructure already built by the previous government, had not done enough to control the pandemic.

The main opposition said that the government had failed to inoculate the country's population as per its previous commitment and despite the vaccines in stock, the government had not provided them to the public.

The UML said Deuba's government had not started providing booster shots to the population yet. The party said booster shots would support the government's measure to control COVID-19 pandemic.

A version of this article appears in the print on January 16, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.