A TikTok video has shown the great lengths medical professionals are going to in rural parts of Nepal as the country battles COVID-19 amid oxygen and vaccine shortages.
In the clip, four men can be seen carrying oxygen tanks across a waterfall in the Himalayas. In six days, the video has gained more than 700,000 views and the comments have been flooded with praise for the men.
Usha Mahato, the nurse who posted the video, is on pandemic duty in Manang, a district of the south Asian nation with a population of only 6,000. Mahato told Vice that the men in the clip were labourers working on a road: "I barely knew them but requested them to help me carry those cylinders across the waterfall. They helped me without saying a word. I genuinely salute their selfless act."
According to Vice, transporting COVID-19 supplies from the closest government hospital takes around 14 hours. Manang's roads are considered some of the world's most dangerous highways and are currently flooded, so the tanks have to be carried from a neighboring district.
"These roads are motorable but due to floods, there is no transport of vehicles right now," she told Vice. The cylinders seen in the video were for 12 COVID patients in her village.
Nepal has been struggling with a second wave of coronavirus, but the capital Kathmandu is beginning to recover. In rural villages, however, with little health care infrastructure in place, the virus is still causing huge problems.
More than 4,000 people in Nepal died with COVID in May, reported the BBC. This is almost half the country's total pandemic death toll of 8,238, according to Johns Hopkins University. Just over 600,000 cases have been recorded.
Nepal is also facing vaccine shortages, forcing the government to request help from other nations. Its vaccine rollout was previously stalled, but resumed on Tuesday after China gave 1 million doses to the Himalayan nation.
The country has also faced oxygen shortages, made worse by the difficulties in transporting the supplies to isolated and mountainous districts.
Mahato told Vice that her video showed hope and added: "People like these are what Nepal is known for."
A glance through the comments reveals only praise for the nurse and the men who carried the tanks. "Respect for those people," wrote one TikTok viewer. "Great work, hero of Nepal," added another.
Another recent video posted to TikTok by the nurse shows a patient receiving oxygen from a tank on an air ambulance.
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