Samaritan’s Purse is providing emergency medical equipment and supplies for 22 hospitals in Nepal as COVID-19 cases spike throughout the country.

A second wave in the COVID-19 pandemic is rapidly spreading throughout Nepal with over 34,000 new cases reported in just the last week. The true number may be much higher because virus testing is inadequate across most of the impoverished nation of 30 million people. Sadly, hardest hit areas are the remote provinces that have the fewest resources to battle the deadly disease. In those regions, there is little to no access to doctors and medical facilities.

Overall, the country’s already limited healthcare system is nearing collapse.

Our DC-8 takes off on Monday with nearly 15 tonnes of medical relief for 22 hospitals in Nepal.

Samaritan’s Purse is responding in Jesus’ Name to Nepal’s coronavirus crisis. Our DC-8 cargo plane departed from Greensboro, North Carolina, early Monday morning (June 7) with almost 15 tonnes of relief supplies that include masks, personal protective equipment, and medical machinery. These critical resources will be distributed among 22 hospitals, including United Mission Hospital Tansen—our partner hospital in Nepal, to help nearly overwhelmed medical professionals battle the new surge in coronavirus cases.

Nepal is being hit with the same novel coronavirus outbreak that has been sweeping through neighbouring India the past several months. More than half a million people in Nepal are known to have become infected since the pandemic was declared in 2020 and nearly 8,000 have died. Crematoriums are struggling to keep up with the continual stream of bodies.

Please pray for the people of Nepal as their country continues to struggle with the COVID-19 pandemic. Pray also that our relief supplies will reach the hospitals safely and that our medical partners will be protected as they treat the ever-growing number of patients suffering from the virus.

Loading relief for Nepal onto our DC-8 jet last week.

Alongside this, working with partners in Nepal, Samaritan’s Purse has opened a 110 bed, disability friendly, isolation centre to help to break the chain of virus transmission for those with no space to isolate at home.