An indefinite blockade on Nepal's India border for more than one month enforced by agitating ethic Madhesi and Tharu groups has pushed the Himalayan nation into a major medical crisis.
The landlocked nation is facing a severe shortage of life saving drugs, medical supplies, fuel and other essential supplies due to a blockade of the country's key border posts with India. Much of Nepal's medical supplies come from India.
"Truckloads of medicine have been blocked at the main border crossing by Madhesi. If the situation of shortages continues, patients could start dying after two weeks," said Mukti Ram Shrestha of the Nepal Medical Association on Thursday, according to Press TV.
The protesters are demanding a separate Tharuhat province comprising of northwest districts with the sizable Tharu population. Nepal's new constitution, adopted on Sept. 20, divides the entire country into seven federal states, and protesters are dissatisfied with it, BBC News reported.
India has been accused of imposing a blockade on supplies, as well as fuelling dissents, in Nepal due to its unhappiness over new constitution. New Delhi, however, maintained that it has nothing to do with the blockade.
"This kind of question has come repeatedly in my press briefings. Is India imposing some kind of blockade on Nepal? We have clarified repeatedly that there has been no blockade by India whatsoever. In fact, this question should be put to the government of Nepal and not to the Government of India. There is no blockade by India, I want to say again," Indian foreign ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said Friday, according to Business Standard.
