August 1: The World Bank has reaffirmed its commitment to support Nepal in improving its health system. Faris Hadad-Zervos, the World Bank Country Director for Nepal, made this assurance during a meeting with Nepal's Health and Population Minister, Mohan Bahadur Basnet.

During the meeting, Minister Basnet praised the World Bank for its cooperation in various sectors of Nepal and requested further financial and technical assistance in the future.

Country Director Zervos informed that the World Bank has been consistently providing support for Nepal's health sector. The bank has planned to offer a loan assistance of 100 million USD and a grant aid of 3.84 million USD for the health sector over the next five years.

The approval process for this assistance is currently underway with the Council of Ministers.

Zervos expressed the World Bank's happiness in collaborating to improve Nepal's health system, and he pledged to continue supporting Nepal during other epidemics, similar to the assistance provided during the COVID-19 pandemic. The World Bank had extended support during the pandemic by providing vaccines as grants.

Minister Basnet shared that a portion of the money received from the World Bank during the COVID-19 pandemic was saved, and the Ministry has initiated the necessary steps to spend the remaining amount on its own.

The surplus amount, initially sent to the Finance Ministry, will now be redirected back to the Ministry of Health for addressing potential disease outbreaks like dengue and funding other sectors. Approximately Rs 1 billion was saved from the World Bank's assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic. (RSS)