The International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs) have offered help to the government in three areas to combat potential health crises in the event of a COVID-19 outbreak in the country.

So far, the country has only a single confirmed case of coronavirus. The government has been screening every passenger entering the country from Tribhuvan International Airport and suspended visa on arrival for nationals from China, South Korea, Japan, Italy and Iran.

But, the country is already reeling from a shortage of health equipment and materials, including medical masks and hand sanitizers.

“We have got a formal proposal from the Association of International Non-Government Organizations in Nepal promising to help in three areas—home quarantine and kits, quarantine centre support and health facility support,” said Durga Prasad Bhattarai, information officer at the Social Welfare Council, the regulatory body of non-governmental sector.

The council will forward the proposal of INGOs to the Ministry of Health and Population within a day or two for consideration, Bhattarai said.

Under the area of home quarantine and health kits, the foreign NGOs have said they would be providing food, water and medical aid to individuals or families who are infected and need to be separated from other family members or the community.

The association has promised to make available various testing kits from countries where they are headquartered and other countries where they have operations.

“Foreign NGOs also don’t have such kits, currently, and they can explore kits from various other countries,” said Shiva Poudel, a consultant for health and disaster thematic committee at the association of foreign NGOs. “The government should allow us to import these items.”

They have also offered help to the government in quarantine at hospitals, Poudel said. “We don’t have human resources but we can help the government human resources with training.”

He said that the international NGOs could also support in preparing separate rooms in a building to ensure isolation and food and medicine supplies for patients inside the hospitals during the quarantine period.

According to the council, the international INGOs have proposed supporting the government in building isolation centres under the quarantine support centre.

As many as 175 Nepalis evacuated from Wuhan, China and the crew members of the plane that brought them back, were kept at Kharipati, a Bhaktapur-based building of Nepal Electricity Authority, for more than two weeks as a preventive measure. After none of them were found to be infected by the coronavirus, they were allowed to go home.

According to Poudel, the international NGOs are also ready to help the government by running awareness campaigns on the coronavirus, which could be effective, given the wide presence of foreign NGOs and their local partner NGOs.

“We can also help by developing an appropriate mobile app,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Association of International NGOs on Wednesday held internal discussions on helping the government combat a potential health crisis arising from the novel coronavirus.

“The foreign NGOs have agreed to conduct mapping of materials they currently have that can help combat the coronavirus,” said Reshma Shrestha, program coordinator at the association.