KATHMANDU, FEBRUARY 3
Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and Secretary General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) Jagan Chapagain held a meeting today.
During the meeting, they held talks regarding matters of humanitarian service and Red Cross related laws.
Similarly, Chapagain held separate talks with Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota and Minister of Women, Children and Senior Citizens Uma Regmi.
During the meetings, Chapagain stressed the need to formulate laws related to Red Cross in Nepal.
The IFRC Secretary General called on Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka yesterday.
Chapagain, the first Nepali to be in the post, arrived here on Tuesday evening.
During the visit, he took updates on IFRC and NRCS affairs.
He said he believed in collaborative efforts to sort out issues in the NRCS. He is of the view that issuing the Red Cross law would further systematise the NRCS business. He pledged IFRC support to the government for the same.
Fifty-two-year-old Chapagain, who has been in the Red Cross movement for 25 years, assumed the post of IFRC secretary general on 1 February 2020. IFRC is a body of 192 member countries. The IFRC Special Governing Board had elected him to the post on 3 December 2019.
Volunteers and employees of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies of IFRC from various member countries have been mobilised in the frontline in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in recent days. IFRC has continued its actions in reducing natural and man-made disasters as well as disasters brought about by climate change while also extending support to the people affected by the pandemic.
Secretary General Chapagain's work and leadership in the humanitarian service sector has won accolades in the IFRC member countries. Nepal Red Cross Society said IFRC had provided the health institutions with medical equipment and worked for the enhancement of capacity of the medical staff.
It also provided PPEs, masks and sanitisers to health workers during the initial stages of COVID-19 in Nepal.
It provided oxygen concentrators, oxymeters, thermal guns and bags for management of bodies and coordinated with the authorities concerned for procurement of vaccines in the latest phase.
A version of this article appears in the print on February 4, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
