Nabil Bank’s assistance worth NPR 80 million towards Corona Prevention & Control

Kathmandu, May 20. Nabil Bank and National Academy of Medical Sciences (NAMS), Bir Hospital have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on 18^th May 2021 for the installation of an Oxygen Plant within Bir Hospital’s premises.

Established in 1947 BS, National Academy of Medical Sciences (NAMS), Bir Hospital is the oldest hospital in Nepal which has been working towards providing quality health services to the public and producing highly skilled human resources in the field of medical science. With the onset of the pandemic, the hospital has converted its newly-built building into a 500-bed COVID-19 special hospital.

As we are all aware in the second wave of COVID, the cases have grown exponentially overburdening the entire health system due to the spiraling case numbers resulting in a severe shortage of oxygen, which is a critical resource for treating COVID- 19 patients. We believe that the installation of an oxygen plant within the hospital will help to resolve this issue to some extent.

The capacity of the oxygen plant is 50 Nm3/ H which will be able to fill 150 cylinders of 40 liters per day. With the installation of the oxygen plant, the hospital will be able to operate its isolation and ICU wards in the new building, which are currently not fully equipped to provide healthcare to patients.

From the very beginning, the Bank has undertaken various CSR activities to help prevent and control the ongoing pandemic including a financial support worth NPR 60 million provided to Nepal Government’s Corona Relief Fund. Similarly, the Bank has recently supported the initiative on “Strengthening Local Health Systems for Preparedness and Response to Pandemics” under which 330 health practitioners from all seven provinces were provided with trainings. Now, with the intention of extending support to curb the shortage of oxygen, the Bank has stepped forward to install an oxygen plant at Bir Hospital and is further exploring to provide oxygen concentrators to different other hospitals. With that said, the Bank has provided assistance worth NPR 80 million to prevent and control Covid-19 pandemic in this fiscal year.