With Nepal no longer buying vaccines for Covid-19, Nepal’s imports of pharmaceutical products have sharply decreased in the current fiscal year. According to the Trade and Export Promotion Centre (TEPC), the import of pharmaceutical products declined by 48.1 percent during the first seven months of the current fiscal year. TEPC data shows Nepal imported pharmaceutical products worth Rs 25.29bn during the first seven months of FY 2022/23 compared to Rs 38.75bn during the same period of FY 2021/22. “One of the major reasons behind the decline in pharmaceutical products appears to be a decrease in import of vaccines in the current fiscal year,” said a senior official of the Department of Customs. “But we have to see the statistics to confirm if it is the only reason.”

In the last fiscal year, Nepal’s major focus was on vaccinating the population against Covid-19. Nepal was importing vaccines either by purchasing or receiving them under grants from various countries or international agencies.

Now, the country's majority of the population has been fully vaccinated and Covid-19 cases also appear in insignificant numbers, Covid vaccines are not being brought into the country. This has brought down the total imports of pharmaceuticals. In the last fiscal year, Nepal imported pharmaceutical products worth Rs 71.93 billion, a rise of 97.78 percent from Rs 36.37bn in the previous fiscal 2020/21. “Nepal has been receiving the Covid-19 vaccines free of cost under the COVAX,” said a senior official of the Department of Health Service. COVAX is a global initiative aimed at equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines. Nepal spent a lot of money purchasing vaccines last fiscal year 2021/22. But, the value of vaccines that are received in grants is included in the accounting of imports, according to customs officials. With the Covid-19 pandemic no longer considered a major public health threat at the moment, government spending on controlling the pandemic has slumped this fiscal year. On Wednesday, Nepal reported a single Covid case and only four active cases. However, an official of the Department of Health Services said that along with the decline in Covid-19 cases, Nepal’s spending on prevention, control, and treatment of the pandemic has also declined sharply. During the first six months of the current fiscal year, the government spent Rs700,000 for the purpose, according to the mid-term review of the budget for FY 2022/23. The government has allocated Rs 15.47bn for the purpose in the current fiscal year 2022/23. “Even though there has not been fresh spending from the dedicated budget for Covid-19, many activities are underway against Covid-19 through the regular health budget too,”  a senior official of the Department of Health Services. “Nevertheless, low spending of dedicated budget shows that Covid-19 is more or less under control. But it has not been eliminated yet.” Meanwhile, the import of medical equipment has also decreased during the first half of the current fiscal year. According to the Nepal Rastra Bank statistics, the import of medical equipment from China has decreased by 2.2 percent to Rs 2.74bn and imports from the third countries decreased by 27 percent to Rs 4bn.