<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161128/636d18d39c7e80680e0ac7e8jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"/><figcaption>Photo: SAGLO SAMAJ/HIMALMEDIA</figcaption></figure>Earlier this year, as the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/the-pandemic-of-hunger/">sec</a><a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/the-pandemic-of-hunger/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ond wave</a> was subsiding in Nepal’s far-western mountains, I noticed the kind of dramatic change in the diet of families that I had earlier only seen in semi-urban settings.In Achham district’s Bayalpata Hospital, I came across a one-year-old who weighed just 5kg. She was being breastfed by a mother who was herself undernourished. “The child only eats noodles and biscuits, that is why I am still breastfeeding,” said the mother.The family has cows and a patch of land where they grow vegetables. There is enough lentil and flour at home. <a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/a-tall-order/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">So why was the child not eating a healthier diet?</a>“Noodles have all the nutrition to give her strength but my baby is still losing weight which is why I have brought her to the hospital,” the young mother tells the doctor.The traditional practice of growing and consuming locally grown lentils, soybean, millet and buckwheat is being replaced even in the remotest parts of Nepal by <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepalis-binge-on-junk-foods-the-west-rejected/">junk food</a> in throwaway plastic wrappings.Locals here have been misled by tv commercials that have glamourised noodles and biscuits, and convinced many parents that they contain <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/junk-food-is-making-nepali-children-shorter/">vitamins and micronutrients that will make their babies healthy</a>. The instant food in plastic packs are also convenient for parents who are usually busy all day in the fields.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/living-to-eat/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Living to eat</a>, Aruna UpretyChild specialist Ramesh Kant Adhikari says that, on the other hand, most urban children who grow up on junk food tend to be obese and malnourished, and certain parents are proud that they are raising well-fed children.“Parents don’t understand that such foods are harmful to the health of their children,” Adhikari told me. “They don’t believe me even when I try to explain.”As long as tv commercials and social media ads continue and the government does not regulate, the problem will persist and continue to grow. Even in the food-deficit regions in the remotest corners of Accham and Doti districts where families cannot even get basic medicines, packaged junk foods are now easily available. This is evidence enough of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/hunger-for-governance/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the state’s misplaced priorities</a>.Children of subsistence farmers, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nearly-half-of-nepali-children-still-malnourished/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">already undernourished</a>, are consuming low-nutrition junk foods. The children then suffer health consequences, which means expensive consultations with doctors who then prescribe costly bottled vitamins, further impoverishing the family, and thus completing the vicious cycle.“There is absolutely no evidence that supplemental vitamins are good for growing children,” adds Adhikari. “All they need is a proper, balanced diet found in traditional home foods.”Read also: <a style="font-weight: 600;" href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=2409#.W2L-r9UzbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Junk food epidemic</a>, Aruna Uprety<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/GUEST-COLUMN/promoting-nutritious-local-food-for-post-quake-children,524" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Local is best</a>, Aruna UpretyBut parents are so swayed by unethical commercials that public health experts are fighting a losing battle to convince them of the dangers of junk foods. Indeed, some health care workers share part of the blame: they prescribe vitamin supplements to young children instead of counselling parents on the nutrition available in the traditional Nepali diet.The Ministry of Agriculture has for decades been publishing booklets and posters to promote local produce such as buckwheat, millet, potato, lentils, latte, tarul, and beans. But lack of coordination between the health and agriculture ministries means that information rarely gets out into the hinterland.The Health Ministry also distributes packets of Balvita at health posts to treat children with malnutrition, but it does not have the sense to inform parents that the same calories, proteins and vitamins are found in abundance in fresh homemade food.Children everywhere are easily swayed by commercials, they demand what they see on tv, and parents often comply. There is also a status symbol associated with young students who take packets of instant noodles with them to school for snacks.Junk food commercials can be countered by attractive infomercials about a healthy diet. Following the pandemic, some television and radio stations started to broadcast programs on nutrition, but their reach is limited.When I was working in East Africa 10 years ago, an Ethiopian doctor shared his experience of combating childhood malnutrition in his country. “We made flour from dry-sprouted soya beans and chickpeas so that it had protein, vitamins, calcium and other micronutrients. It was cheap, easily available, and very easy to disseminate information about.”I keep sharing this information with health workers all over Nepal. But there is resistance because the Health Ministry in Kathmandu is not serious about promoting local food products aggressively enough.For example, sesame seeds have good fat, calcium, and mineral content, and can be given to children and pregnant mothers. Flax seeds contain omega-3 fatty acids and fibre. But we do not advertise these locally available superfoods, or use them in fighting malnutrition. Instead doctors prescribe imported capsules packaged by multinationals that contain the very same ingredients.Federal Ministries, especially Agriculture and Health, must coordinate with their provincial and municipal counterparts to fight malnutrition. It is not an exaggeration to say that the epidemic of junk food in Nepal is now emerging as a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-epidemic-of-hunger/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">public health crisis</a>.Aruna Uprety is a public health specialist and author of the 2017 book on nutrition, खाना खानुभयो?Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/diabetes-in-south-asia,3018">More exercise, less soft drinks …</a>, Sonia Awale

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We are what we eat

<figure><img width="1554" height="870" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151116/636d07ea9c7e80680e0a5fe9jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba waits for his turn at a J&amp;J vaccination centre in Kathmandu. Photo: PMO</figcaption></figure>During his address to Parliament on 18 July <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-accidental-prime-minister/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">while seeking a confidence vote</a>, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba claimed his government’s topmost priority was vaccination and managing the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The government's first priority is vaccination, second priority is vaccination, third priority is vaccination,” he said emphatically.
This week, he had a photo-op with American Ambassador Randy Berry as the handicapped received <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-disabled-get-a-shot-at-covid/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the Johnson &amp; Johnson single jab inoculations</a>. He then waited in line with others to get his own shot.
He then summoned health officials to Singha Darbar for a pow-wow and instructed them to be at battle stations against a possible third wave by setting up holding centres at the border as well as increasing testing, supply of oxygen, beds and ICUs in hospitals.
After becoming prime minister for the fifth time, Deuba has spent most of this first week in office dealing with <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/once-nepal-gets-vaccines-they-need-to-be-fairly-distributed/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Covid-19</a>, leading many to believe his priority is indeed the health sector. 
However, he has yet to appoint a health minister, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/from-the-fire-into-the-frying-pan/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">even as he was quick to name</a> trusted supporter Bal Krishna Khand as Home Minister and hand over powerful finance and the energy and water resource portfolio to the Maoist Centre.
This is in direct contrast to the Oli administration that <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/3-health-ministers-in-1-year/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">switched five Health Ministers in three years</a>, and four since the pandemic. The very lead ministry in tackling the pandemic has been plagued with uncertainty and indecision.
Nepal might be at the tail end of the second wave but the rate of decline in daily infections and deaths has stalled. There is also the threat of a possible third wave and spread of newer strains as the country struggles to increase its vaccination coverage.
“Unstable leadership affects the entire system and its operations. And in a country like ours with underdeveloped mechanisms, stable leadership is of utmost importance, ”says Bhoj Raj Pokhrel, former Chief Election Commissioner.
Bhanubhakta Dhakal was the Minister of Health in January 2020 when the first case of Covid-19 was detected in Nepal. He was in charge when the first scandals broke in the procurement of Covid-19 test kits, which were found to be <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-relying-on-unreliable-covid-19-kits/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">faulty and overpriced</a>.
Hiradyesh Tripathi then took over and was entrusted by the Oli administration to buy 5 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine. That did not materialise, and he negotiated with the Serum Institute of India (SII) to buy 2 million doses of the AstraZeneca Covishield vaccine. But only 1 million doses were delivered before India banned the export.
Tripathi later <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/our-health-system-cant-contain-the-pandemic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">blamed SII’s representatives in Nepal</a> for trying to take a bigger commission from the next order of 5 million doses. This was followed by the devastating second wave.
Tripathi was succeeded by Sher Bahadur Tamang, who served just three weeks as health minister before the Supreme Court ordered Oli’s Cabinet appointments null and void. Krishna Gopal Shrestha, who was also the Education Minister, had an even shorter tenure because the Oli government fell on 13 July.
Former director of the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division Baburam Marasini says that at a time when the Health Ministry should have been most proactive it became a victim of politics.
There are rumours that Deuba may appoint <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Policies-for-the-people,3640" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Gagan Thapa</a> as health minister, and many remember his previous tenure during which he showed <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/gagan-care-kidney,3633" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">decisiveness and knowledge of the job</a>. 
He says: "Only when the leadership is strong and stable can all agencies of government effectively implement a strategy. It is imperative that the government appoint a can-do, well-informed health minister soon.”

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Nepal has no health minister as Covid-19 cases rise again

<figure><img width="1500" height="970" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111156/636cd8d39c7e80680e092e63jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: UNICEF</figcaption></figure>After immunising over 1.6 million Nepalis against Covid-19, the government now plans to administer the rest of the 600,000 jabs that it has in stock for second doses starting 20 April. But it needs at least another million shots to cover all those who inoculated in the first and second phases, as well as to complete the inoculation of those 55 years and above.The Health Ministry is banking on the remaining 1 million doses of the AstraZeneca Covidshield that it purchased from the Serum Institute of India. That consignment was not delivered on 15 March as promised after an Indian court banned export of vaccines before demand at home is met. The next batch of Covishield vaccine under the COVAX initiative is also not expected before May. However, the current suspension of vaccinations in Europe, Thailand and other countries may ease the worldwide shortage somewhat. “We will go ahead with second doses as planned, but the third phase aimed at the age group 55-64 will depend on vaccine availability and as of now we don’t have dates on when they are arriving,” admits Shyam Raj Upreti, head of the Government Covid Vaccine Strategy told Nepali Times.The Chinese government, on the other hand, has increased its gift of Sinopharm vaccines to Nepal from 500,000 to 800,000, but China has insisted that Nepal send a plane to collect it from Beijing.The shortfall in supply and procurement challenges forced the Health Ministry to allow private companies to import vaccines, including the Covaxin manufactured by Bharat Biotech in India. “The private sector can help bridge the gap in procurement limitation as well as allow people with the means and the interest to get vaccinated, but all this must be monitored and regulated,” says Sher Bahadur Pun, a virologist at the Teku Hospital.Average coverage was 73% of the eligible population in the first two phases, all of them with the Covishield AstraZeneca vaccine. However, media reports of the suspension of that vaccine in European countries this week due to fears of blood clot among some recipients may increase vaccine hesitancy in Nepal. The suspensions have baffled public health experts who warn that there is neither enough data to justify the decision, nor adequate evidence to blame blood clots on the vaccine. The fact that there have been no serious side effects in Nepal had increased the acceptance level of the vaccine in the public and among frontline health workers in Nepal. “The EU might have different standards from ours but it might be a good idea to monitor serious side effects,” says epidemiologist Lhamo Yangchen Sherpa. “However, the vaccine has been safe in this part of the world, so its benefits far outweigh the risk.”Some experts think the suspension of the vaccine campaigns in Europe may actually be a blessing in disguise for Nepal, which is facing delays in shipments of Covishield it ordered as well as remaining doses under the COVAX initiative from the Serum Institute. That delay and the heftier price tag was blamed on a rise in global demand. So far, the government has only administered Covidshield in Nepal and health authorities here see no reason to discontinue the vaccine without a real causal link between AstraZeneca and the blood clots.“The EU decision to suspend AstraZeneca is very random and counterproductive, it was probably influenced by politics,” says Buddha Basnyat of the Patan Academy of Medical Sciences. “There is evidence this vaccine is safe and protects us specifically from severe symptoms of Covid-19.”Meanwhile, reassured by the vaccination drive and a dramatic drop in infections, Nepalis have gone back to normal, and many have forgotten about precautions. With parts of India hit by a second wave with over 37,000 new cases and 171 additional deaths on Wednesday, experts have advised the Nepal government not to let up on communicating the need to mask up and avoid crowds. “Officials here have stopped testing and are focusing only on vaccinating but even those who have been inoculated must remember that they can still be carriers,” Lhamo Yangchen Sherpa told Nepali Times from Achham. “We have to continue to take safety precaution as if the pandemic is not over, which it is not.”

Sonia Awale

1.6 million vaccinated, 20 million to go

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110918110/636bdcac9c7e80680e08032bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1784" height="1260"/><figcaption></figcaption></figure>Any other year, up to 1.5 million people leave Kathmandu Valley for their home districts during the Dasain festival. This year, according to police estimates, it was only 200,000. Constant warnings by the Health Ministry and the experts to celebrate <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/this-years-dangerous-dasain/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">this year’s Dasain-Tihar-Chhat</a>in place seems to have worked.However, those who went home left Kathmandu Valley where the pandemic has been raging for the past month, with more than 60% of new daily cases nationwide. The fear is that many took the virus with them and spread it across the country.Now, a new study of the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/pandemic-dasain-swings-to-a-close/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">movement of people during Dasain</a> by tracking mobile telephone geolocation gives precise information where most people from Kathmandu went for the festival, and where the risk of Covid-19 clusters are highest.The Covid-19 Crisis Management Center (CCMC), in collaboration with telecommunication service providers Nepal Telecom and Ncell, have analysed the movement of at least 100,000 people who left for various districts two weeks before the start of Dasain by tracking their cellphone devices.The data shows that the highest number of people left Kathmandu for Dhulikhel and Namobuddha of Kavre, Thaha and Manhari municipalities of Makwanpur, Melamchi and Sunkosi of Sindhupalchok, Parwanipur of Bara, Bharatpur of Chitwan and Lekhnath of Kaski districts.The CCMC now has red flagged these municipalities, and advised local authorities to be vigilant. The committee has also classified parts of the country as 'moderate, low and extremely low risk' in terms of Covid-19 crisis based on human mobility.Likhu in Nuwakot, Belkotgadi, Thakre of Dhading, Panchkhal of Kavre, Lisankhu of Sindhupalchok, Kamalamai of Sindhuli, Janakpur of Dhanusha, Triyuga of Udayapur and Barju in Sunsari are also at high risk of outbreaks because of the volume of people travelling there from Kathmandu in the past weeks.Ncell had previously helped <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Ncell-Flowminder-track-movement-of-nepalis-post-earthquake,2278" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">track the movement of Nepalis post-earthquake in 2015</a>, when it found that more than 400,000 people left Kathmandu in the week following the disaster, while thousands of quake-displaced people temporarily settled in the capital.At that time it was found that the maximum number went to earthquake-affected districts to check-up on families, with the eastern Tarai districts being the destination for others. The numbers going to western Nepal in 2015 was negligible.To understand the movement pattern of people for effective aid distribution, Ncell collaborated at that time with Swedish organisation Flowminder to make use of the cellular network data for earthquake response.In this crisis, areas identified as at ‘very high risk’ and ‘high risk’ of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/window-on-the-future/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Covid-19 infection</a> because of maximum human movement should be prioritised in terms of contact tracing and following stringent safety measures if we are to bring the infection under control, say experts. But the CCMC and Health Ministry seem to be <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/coronavirus-coordination-committee-doesnt-coordinate/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">working at cross-purposes and undermining each other</a>.The two agencies responsible for Covid-19 response are at loggerheads, consumed by turf battles, questions of responsibility, and of late have been blaming each other for the dramatic spread of Covid-19 across Nepal, especially in Kathmandu Valley.In fact, in July-August w<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/covid-19-lessons-for-kathmandu-from-the-tarai/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">hen Birganj was reeling under a Covid-19 crisis</a>, the CCMC had identified Kathmandu Valley at high risk of infection based on the number of people entering the capital from the Tarai. Just as projected, the capital is now the hotspot of Covid-19 infection in Nepal.The total number of new Covid-19 cases which dropped this week during Dasain because testing centres were closed for the festival, is steadily picking up. Public health experts predict that the cases will rise as the backlog is tested, as well as because of the rise in infections due to family movement.To prove this point, on Thursday the total numbers testing positive was back to the pre-Dasain 3,517 level, 1,888 of them in Kathmandu Valley. Some 4,096 patients were discharged in the last 24 hours. There were 16 more deaths, taking the total closer to 1,000. The recovery rate is 76.7%.As of 30 October, Nepal has a total of 168,235 confirmed Covid-19 cases with 38,357 of them active infections, Kathmandu Valley accounts for most of them at 19,752. Total fatalities now stand at 920 with 333 of them in Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur districts.There are about 300 people undergoing treatment in ICUs in various hospitals across the country with 71 of them on ventilator support. Bagmati province has the most seriously sick with 191 in ICU and 55 on ventilators.

Heat map of Nepal’s Covid-19 hotspots

<img width="1482" height="947" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171156/636bdc039c7e80680e0802f4jpeg.jpg" alt=""/>At a time when close coordination between government ministries and various agencies under the Health Ministry is of the utmost importance to manage the pandemic, the committee set up to coordinate is itself working at cross-purposes with them. The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/who-is-in-charge-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Covid-19 Crisis Management Committee (CCMC)</a> and the Ministry of Health are at loggerheads, consumed by turf battles, questions of responsibility, and lately blaming each other for the dramatic spread of Covid-19 across Nepal, especially in Kathmandu Valley. On Friday, the country recorded 4,499 new infections, taking the total confirmed cases to 153,008. Of these, 2,720 were in Kathmandu Valley. With 17 more deaths, the total fatalities now stands at 829. There are nearly 50,000 active cases, and the numbers needing ICU treatment and ventilators continue to rise. Patients in ambulances have been turned back because hospitals in Kathmandu have run out of space. Meanwhile, the CCMC is in limbo after its head <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-pm-shuffles-ministers-around/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ishwar Pokhrel was transferred out of the defence ministry</a>. No one is clear about who is in charge.  Pokhrel had a public run-in with the Nepal Army chief Purna Chandra Thapa over the CCMC dragging the military into controversy over questionable contracts for the import of medical equipment and kits. The CCMC’s communication with the Health Ministry is now non-existent, and this is sowing confusion about pandemic response at a time when the country is in a health emergency as medical facilities are overwhelmed.  "The Health Ministry has stopped consulting or taking orders from the CCMC,” said a ministry source.  Nepal’s capital <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/declare-a-health-emergency/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">has now become its coronavirus capital</a> as well, and the ministry has not been doing evidence-based planning to manage hospital facilities to handle the growing number of cases. It ignored data on hotspots within Kathmandu and to order testing and tracing there.  According to the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/hotspots-within-kathmandus-covid-19-hotbed/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">maps released by the CCMC</a> large clusters of cases have been detected in Chabahil, Maitidevi, Bansbari, Sinamangal, New Baneswor, Naya Bazaar, Narayan Toll, Kalanki, Bagbazar and Balaju in Kathmandu.  <figure><img width="1080" height="763" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171156/636bdc069c7e80680e0802f5jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Map: CCMC</figcaption></figure>Similarly, Sanepa, Lagankhel, Jawalakhel, Khumaltar and Khadkagaun in Lalitpur have been found to be affected by coronavirus, so are Bhaktapur’s Kageswor Manohara, Vyasi, Ghalate, Bungal, Patan and Devdol areas.All the areas reporting high cases of Covid-19 are the Valley’s business centres with high population density and higher movement of people, many of them coming in from the Tarai. Local governments in coordination with the Health Ministry should have sealed those sites, and increased testing. But this has not been the case. In fact, despite the CCMC’s data at its disposal, the Ministry and the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division have not been utilised to better control and prevent the crisis – especially with the risks associated with the festival season. The lack of coordination can also be seen in the contradictory statements issued by the Health Ministry spokesperson Jageswar Gautam in his daily briefing. Last week, his remarks that patients who test positive should not go to hospital unless they are “about to faint” evoked widespread ridicule on social media.Then this week, the government first said people had to pay for their own tests, and that the government could not bear the cost of treatment of Covid-19 treatment anymore. After more media outrage, the government has been backpedalling furiously, claiming that it has been handling the pandemic well. Public health experts say that Nepal’s coronavirus response has actually exposed serious failure of leadership and governance, as a political power struggle in the ruling party distracts everyone.Said the Health Ministry source: “At a time when there should be close coordination between all agencies of the government to reduce the impact of the pandemic, we see no coordination at all.”

Coronavirus coordination committee doesn’t coordinate

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022112911110/6385d84d9c7e80680e0cc75bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="480"/><figcaption>Illustration: DIWAKAR CHETTRI</figcaption></figure>Whenever Nepal’s political ‘leaders’ ask us what they should be doing, our response is usually: “When you were in jail, what did you resolve to do when you were released and came to power?”Over the years the reaction from those leaders has always been a sheepish smile. Let us give them the benefit of the doubt: they simply do not remember. In fact oral tradition says that when people get to the corridors of power, they forget how they got there in the first place.The debacle in the health sector in trying to come to grips with a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/has-nepals-lockdown-just-postponed-covid-19/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">global pandemic</a> is that it needs to ask the country’s military to step in to procure medical supplies. Kathmandu’s lip service to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/lines-on-a-map/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">India’s land grab in Kalapani</a> is another symptom of the deeper moral malaise that plagues Nepal’s accidental political leadership.One popular politician once related how he came to be a ‘leader’. His college was organising a blood donation program which was disrupted by the police. The officer who beat him up said, “You want to spill communist blood in Nepal? Let me help you.” The pain of the beating and having to sleep in a cold cell turned him into a Dear Leader. Even today he reminds others that they went on to become engineers and doctors because they did not have the luck to be beaten up and detained like him.These accidental leaders missed hygiene class, hence do not know about virus. They  missed geography class, and therefore cannot draw a map of Nepal, especially of its northwestern tip. They also know that the Nepal Army cannot be investigated and hence pushed it to build fast tracks and import masks.One accidental leader was recently asked, “Now that the Army is importing medicines, should we not send the Ministry of Health to defend Lipu Lekh?”Many Nepalis believed these accidental political leaders when they were blaming the mysterious Foreign Hand for anything that was wrong with Nepal. But today we have turned into a country that waits for India’s Republic Day to get free ambulances. We need the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/swiss-pcrs-for-nepal-covid-19-testing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Swiss to buy us COVID 19 test kits</a>  and UNDP to connect ministries to Zoom.The building in which the Nepal’s Parliament sits for the budget session is a birthday gift from the Chinese government to King Birendra – and it was supposed to be a convention centre. Our parliamentary democracy couldn’t even build its own Parliament.Nepalis are finally beginning to ask what happens to all the taxes we pay. There never seems to be a shortage of money <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/driving-nepal-deeper-into-debt/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">when politicians and bureaucrats need the latest SUVs</a>  but we cannot afford a Zoom account?The people of Kathmandu, many of whom have sold their homesteads in the districts to buy a tiny patch in the Valley, have started roof gardens to grow vegetable and rented remaining floors. The market is full of vegetables grown on roof terraces. In fact, 52 days into the lockdown, there is <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-lockdown-chance-for-self-sufficiency-in-veggies/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">no visible shortage of vegetables</a> or black marketing in Kathmandu.With the global economic downturn there is a real possibility of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-grapples-with-bringing-workers-home/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepalis coming home from all over the world</a>  Many countries want to protect jobs for their own citizens, and hence Nepal may experience brain gain sooner than many would have predicted. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/overseas-nepalis-on-the-covid-19-frontlines/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">We may have doctors</a>  nurses, builders and service providers who are now second to none due to the experience they have received in the world’s most advanced economies.The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-prepares-for-economic-fallout-of-pandemic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">post COVID-19 economy in Nepal</a> could do really well if they are given the incentives to start businesses and create jobs. They always told us they would return one day and rebuild and develop Nepal. We all know that good human resources are the most critical variable to develop a country and not just its natural resources endowment – just like Japan or Korea.The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/pandemic-is-a-chance-to-rethink-development/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">COVID-19 crisis could be turned into a chance</a> for a Great Leap Forward. Nepalis returning to Nepal should not be seen as a problem but an opportunity for growth.Our accidental leaders will get due credit because if it was not for their mismanagement, Nepalis would never have left Nepal in the first place. The glass is indeed half full.Anil Chitrakar is President of <a href="http://www.siddharthinc.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.siddharthinc.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1589691492058000&amp;usg=AFQjCNESqOnoQwq3KbH89NK9XOAj4v0_cA">Siddharthinc</a>.

health-ministry

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Nepal has no health minister as Covid-19 cases rise again

1.6 million vaccinated, 20 million to go

Heat map of Nepal’s Covid-19 hotspots

Coronavirus coordination committee doesn’t coordinate

Nepal's accidental leaders