A Bahrain expeditionary team, led by one of its royal members, brought 2000 COVID-19 vaccines as a “gift for a village in Nepal”, now regulators in Nepal have launched a probe into how the vaccines arrived in the country without fulfilling legal procedures.

According to a report in The Himalayan Times, the 16 members team plan to stay in Nepal for the next 80 days. The Nepali Embassy in Bahrain, in a statement on Monday, said the team would bring 2000 vaccines of Covishield as a “gift” to the locals of  Samagaun Village of Gorkha district.

Hours later, the Department of Drugs Administration issued a statement, saying they were “unaware” of the import of AstraZeneca vaccines that came with the Bahraini team.

“We have deployed a team of drug inspectors to investigate how the vaccines were brought into the country without any prior approval,” Bharat Bhattarai, director-general of the Department of Drug Administration, was quoted as saying by the Kathmandu Post.

“We did not know that vaccines were being imported from Bahrain,” he added.

The incident appears to be a case of miscommunication between the country’s foreign ministry and health ministry. The former knew about the vaccines while the latter wasn’t informed.

Bhattarai said his department was coordinating with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Health and Population in this regard. Any vaccines or medicine that are being imported to the country must have legal prior permission from the department, he said.