Kathmandu, May 7 (PTI) Nepal is facing an acute shortage of coronavirus vaccines and other essential medical supplies, as health experts warned of major crisis amid a sudden spike in the coronavirus cases and hospitals running out of beds and oxygen due to the increasing number of patients.

Nepal began its vaccination campaign in January with 1 million doses of the AstraZeneca shots donated by India, but it had been suspended as India stopped exports of the vaccine in the wake of the current COVID crisis in the country. The vaccination resumed when China donated 800,000 doses, and Nepal is negotiating with Russia for supplies of the Sputnik V shots.

So far, 21 lakh people in Nepal have received at least one shot of the coronavirus vaccine. However, less than 4 lakh people have received double doses of the vaccine till date.

After vaccinating frontline people, including medical personnel, security personnel and journalists a few months ago, Nepal's Health Ministry started vaccinating senior citizens. However, the vaccination drive has been halted for the time being as the country is not getting additional doses of vaccines from India.

Nepal around two months ago had inked an agreement with the AstraZeneca vaccine manufacturer, Serum Institute of India, for procuring 20 lakh doses of Covishield vaccines. However, the company has supplied only 10 lakh doses so far. The Indian company has informed that it is currently unable to supply the vaccines as the production has suffered due to a recent fire incident in its factory.

"The Serum said that it was unable to supply vaccines for the time being as it had recently suffered a major fire in its factory and it is unable to expand its capacity," said the Ministry of Health and Population of Nepal, issuing a statement on Friday, quoting the Indian company.

The Health Ministry has refuted a news report which claims that the government is procuring 50 lakh additional vaccine shots from the international market.

"There is no such plan to procure additional vaccines at the moment," says the Health Ministry. The vaccines manufactured by other companies are yet to get official recognition from the Nepal government.

The ministry, however, maintains that "the government is making efforts through diplomatic channels and other sources to acquire vaccines from other countries," the ministry adds. The ministry also refuted a report about its involvement in an alleged scam to procure vaccines from abroad, saying "as the Health Services Department can independently make decisions regarding procurement of vaccines, the news report regarding the ministry's possible involvement in vaccine procurement scam is baseless."

Hospitals are running out of beds and oxygen cylinders are running out due to the increasing number of patients, says Dr Ashok Karki, a freelance medical staff involved in treating corona patients in Kathmandu.

Nepal on Friday reported 9,023 new cases of the coronavirus, taking the national COVID-19 tally to 377,603. On Friday, 50 corona related deaths were reported, taking the corona death tally to 3,579, according to the Ministry of Health and Population.

Nepal's more than 40 districts, including three districts of Kathmandu Valley, are under prohibitory orders for the past two weeks as the second wave of infection has hit the country.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)