-Bikram Giri
Kathmandu, April 9 : The government-run Nepal Drugs Limited (NDL) is finding it hard to distribute the hand sanitiser it has been producing to the general consumers due to the ongoing national lockdown.
The NDL’s officiating general manager, Bijayashree Ratna Bajracharya, said 60,000 bottles sanitiser they have produced remained in the storehouse as it could not be transported and supplied due to the lockdown. It has been able to send the product to the market only in the Kathmandu Valley.
There is high demand for sanitiser in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country but the NDL has not been able to supply the same to districts outside the Valley. Bajracharya said although they have been getting orders for sanitiser from districts outside the Valley, they are in a quandary as to how to meet such demands.
“We have been getting demand after demand. There is problem how this growing demand could be met. We are in discussions with the Ministry of Health and Population on transporting sanitiser to places outside the Valley,” he said. Presently, NDL is producing up to 20,000 bottles of sanitiser daily. A bottle is 100 millilitres. The Limited has the capacity to manufacture 50,000 bottles on a daily basis. It has been producing sanitiser as per the World Health Organisation (WHO) standard by purchasing alcohol from various industries. “Ten thousand to 12,000 bottles are sold daily. It is difficult to get them in the hands of consumers even if we produce in more quantity,” Bajracharya said.
Moreover, he said that only 100 millilitres bottles are produced in Nepal and they have to bring bottles more than that capacity from India. “We have not been able to bring bottles more than 100 millilitres capacity from India due to the lockdown, and it would be easier if the Ministry took initiatives for the import of these bottles from India,” he added. NDL started manufacturing sanitiser from March 24 itself considering the possibility of spread of COVID-19.
It has mobilised only one-thirds of its total 82 employees in manufacturing sanitiser. This, according to Bajracharya, is a precautionary measure taken against the possible spread of coronavirus in its manufacturing units of the company. The NDL has been producing sanitiser with 80 per cent alcohol content whereas the very content in sanitisers produced by other companies ranges from 40 to 70 per cent only.
Besides the sanitiser, it has been manufacturing paracetamol, oral rehydration and salt sachets, among other drugs. The price of a 100-millilitre-bottle of sanitiser manufactured by NDL is Rs 175. RSS
