Rs 10 Billion Spent On Corona Treatment
June 4, 2020 | Investopaper
The government has already spent Rs 10 billion for the prevention and control of corona virus infection. The government says the money was spent on corona control treatment, quarantine construction and relief distribution.
This amount is not the expenditure details of the center alone. This is a summary of the expenditure incurred by the central, state and local governments for the last four months. Out of the amount spent, Rs 6.3 billion is from the central government, Rs 1.08 billion from the seven state governments and Rs 2.76 billion from the local level.
Rs 9.87 billion has been spent from the budget allocated by the central government, the Corona Fund, the state government and the local government budget.
Rough expenditure details were made public at a meeting of the high-level committee on Wednesday as voices were being raised from the people that all expenditure should be done through integrated system and information should be provided about the areas where the expenditure was made.
The expenditure statement also mentions the amount provided by the central government to all the seven states at the rate of Rs 20 million per state for the construction of quarantine and isolation rooms. The procurement of medicines, equipment and pharmaceutical materials was done by the federal government, construction and upgrading of hospitals by the state government and quarantine construction and operation expenses were borne by the local level.
This includes Rs 2.34 billion spent by the army to buy medicine from China through the Ministry of Defense. However, the expenditure details of the international non-governmental organizations in Nepal are not mentioned in this expenditure. The government had issued a written circular in Baisakh to such international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) in Nepal directing them to mobilize up to 20 percent of the funds allocated for any of their schemes for controlling the epidemic of Covid 19.
The government had estimated that Rs 6.89 billion would be spent on health, hospital management, information system and treatment. The government is still compelled to bear the entire expenses of some Nepalis brought from third countries. A total of Rs 2.32 billion has been deposited in the Corona Fund so far. The government is also spending money from the fund.
