Officials at the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) on Monday asked the foreign aid workers not to ask so many questions, as they have little time to spare.
There has been a huge surge in foreign aid workers after the devastating earthquake that claimed over 8,000 lives, injured thousands and rendered many more homeless."Today they took up over three hours asking me confusing questions," complained Dr Guna Raj Lohani, spokesperson at the Health Emergency Operation Center (HEOC) at the ministry. "Some asked where Kritipur is and how many patients there are." Even the Nepali assistants of foreign aid workers repeated such questions as if they did not know anything at all about Nepal.
"I asked them instead to come with concrete proposals as we are now at a critical juncture," he said.
Dr Lohani also said that the ministry is ready to discuss serious action plans with donors and aid agencies. The ministry has formed the HEOC to deal with queries regarding the earthquake victims. However, silly questions had become a headache for the officials, they said.
"I have no time to entertain all questions. We plan to discuss with our regular donors the challenges and ways to cope with this difficult situation," said Shanta Bahadur Shrestha, secretary at MoHP.
He informed that the foreigners, who come to assist the quake victim's voluntarily, have been serving in the field. "Foreign medical teams have been working in remote villages and we face the challenge of continuing their work after they are gone," he added.
According to Secretary Shrestha, some foreigners might have come to Nepal with their expenditures included in the declared aid extended by their countries.
Shrestha said that rehabilitation of the quake victims and reconstruction of infrastructure are the major challenges for the government and the ministry will welcome aid in these areas.
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