Nepal: when a caregiver crosses a raging river to deliver vaccines

Published on : 06/18/2021 – 5:56 PMModified : 06/21/2021 – 6:01 PM

The vaccination of more than 100 people was at risk after heavy rains hit rural Mustang in northern Nepal. But on June 15, a caregiver decided to brave the elements to bring, as best they could, the coolers containing the doses of Covid-19 vaccines, as evidenced by a video that has gone viral.

The weather conditions in the region caused the Kali Gandaki River to overflow on the road that connects various villages in the Mustang district, preventing the scheduled delivery of vaccine doses from a health center in Lete, to the villages of Kobang and Tukuche, supposed to get their second dose.

But Lal Bahadur Rokaya, an assistant at a small clinic in Kobang, did not hear it that way. With an iron bar, taken on a construction site, to hang the coolers containing 120 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, he crossed the raging river, in a fragile equilibrium.

@anjilathakali

लेतेको छापताङ् खोला बढेकोले जेष्ठनागरिकहरूको कोभिड १ ९ विरूद्ध खोपको दोस्रो डोज ल्याउनको लागि गरिएको सङ्घर्ष (२०७८/०३/०१)। #mustangmuser #fyp #foryou

♬ original sound – ?_K.p.Rajkumar_?

_{This video shared on TikTok on June 15 shows Lal Bahadur Rokaya (in gouache, in white) receiving a cooler full of Covid-19 vaccine from a municipal worker.}

“People here need a vaccine, and no one could help us.”

Contacted, Lal Bahadur Rokaya said:

“It’s not easy to get vaccinated here. The local health office is far from the village, and the road is complicated, especially since it rained heavily. The water rises and there is no bridge. The people here need the vaccine, and no one could help us. Local health officials said their workers couldn’t cross the river, so I went to meet them on the other side, and get the vaccines. I was scared at the time, but in the end everyone was very happy to get their second dose. ”

The vaccines collected by Lal Bahadur Rokaya were intended for two nearby clinics. The caregivers of these clinics then also crossed swollen rivers to collect the doses to be administered to their patients.

_{^{Caregivers crossing a river to bring doses of vaccines to their village in Nepal.}}

Since June 12, the start of the monsoon season, heavy rains have hit central Nepal and have led to flooding of rivers, landslides and flooding, destroying infrastructure. At least seven people are missing. Hundreds of people have been displaced.

Nepal is just emerging of a difficult second wave of Covid-19. The country has 8% of its population vaccinated with one dose. He was able to count on donations of vaccines from India, China and the Covax program. More than 600,000 cases of Covid-19 have been identified since the start of the epidemic in this country of 30 million inhabitants, and 8,000 people have died.

“People here need a vaccine, and no one could help us.”

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