Nepal has requested India for help in oxygen supply, antiviral drugs and intensive care unit beds, amid fears the country’s healthcare structure was wilting under the pressure of the rising coronavirus wave.

According to officials, a request was made to New Delhi by the Ministry of Health through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Nepali embassy in New Delhi has already started taking up the matter with concerned Indian government agencies, officials said, Kathmandu Post reported.

“We have received a list of requirements from the government and have forwarded them to the relevant (Indian) government agencies,” a senior Nepali diplomat at the Nepali embassy in Delhi told the Post over the phone.

The list of requirements includes oxygen, Remdesivir and intensive care unit beds.

The request, however, has gone at a time when India itself is struggling to contain the lethal second wave of the coronavirus, with the daily count of infections soaring over 300,000 and the number of daily deaths hitting a record 2,263.

Public health experts say the request to India at this time exposes the government’s lack of preparedness against the looming second wave about which they had consistently warned, according to the report.

Nepal had seen a sudden decline in the number of cases after the daily count hit the highest ever on October 21 last year at 3,439. But from less than 100 new infections on March 12, the country on Friday reported 2,449 cases, with five deaths.

Officials say the country’s health facilities are already overwhelmed, with hospitals running out of intensive care beds, oxygen and Remdesivir.

About a few weeks ago, when India decided to impose a ban on exports of Remdesivir, Nepali officials said Nepal won’t be impacted much by the decision, and it was importing the antiviral drug from Bangladesh as well.

 “Why not procure some items like Remdesivir from Bangladesh, as it is manufactured there as well,” said Dr Baburam Marasini, former director of the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division.

 “The government can purchase small oxygen concentrations also from East Asian countries like Thailand and Malaysia.”

According to Marasini, the government must be careful about any possible hoarding and blackmarketing of medicines and oxygen.