On Gandhi Jayanti, India gifts 41 ambulances and 6 school buses to Nepal

On the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary, India, on October 2, gifted Nepal a total of 41 ambulances and six school buses. According to a press release, since 1994, the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu has a tradition of gifting ambulances and school buses to various governmental, non-government and not for profit organisations, which have been working in the field of health and education. The embassy said that they have a ‘long-standing tradition’ in a bid to support grassroots medical access. 

In a series of tweets, the Indian Embassy in Nepal shared pictures of the buses and the ambulances and wrote, “Complementing Nepal's efforts to fight COVID-19 pandemic, Embassy, for the first time, gifted advanced ambulances with travelling ventilators, ECG and Oxygen monitor and another emergency medical equipment in Nepal”.

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823 ambulances, 160 school buses gifted since 1994

Ever since the tradition started, the Embassy of India has gifted nearly 823 ambulances, including those gifted on Friday. This year, for the first time, the Indian officials gifted three different categories of ambulances - Advance Life Support category, Basic Life Support and Common Life Support ambulances. All the three categories of ambulances are built as per the guidelines of Government of Nepal, the press note read. 

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The Advanced Life Support category ambulances include equipment such as travelling ventilator, ECG and Oxygen monitor, automated external defibrillator, nebulizer set, BP apparatus, stethoscope, Ambu bag, various tubes and catheters, wheelchair and stretcher, radio communication equipment and 4G mobile device, etc. the basic Life Support ambulances, on the other hand, have the aforementioned items, except for travelling ventilator. The Common Life Support ambulances are four-wheel Drive Vehicles and best suited for hilly and mountainous terrains. 

The press note informed, “The Embassy has, so far, gifted 160 school buses across Nepal, including the six gifted today to educational institutions located in six districts of Nepal”. 

It further read, “Today’s gifting of ambulances and school buses is part of Government of India continued support for the efforts of Nepal to strengthen health services, particularly emergency medical services and also facilitates easy physical access of students to their places of learning”. 

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