Like many Nepalis living abroad, I too, harbor a strong desire to be of service to my people and country and I believe I have been fortunate enough to be able to contribute in my capacity as a primary care doctor and community organizer. We have a large community of Nepali speaking people in Ohio estimated anecdotally 90,000 including Bhutanese people of Nepali origin. I regularly find myself solving medical queries, helping arrange health services for uninsured Nepalis and finding work and place to live for our people in need. Apart from my day-to-day professional responsibilities, these small deeds, which I consider to be my duty, have been a part of my life from as long as I have been working in the US. However, after the COVID pandemic that struck the world two years ago, I found myself anxious to help in more substantial ways.

I had already begun the process of providing COVID related critical care and information to the Nepali speaking community through our various COVID response programs. But I could not sit peacefully at the safety of my home, having access to vaccines and top medical facilities in the US, when I knew people in my birth country would not have that privilege. While we were still busy collecting masks and sanitizers, I decided to jump into action, trying to establish channels in the highest political level in the US in order to secure vaccines for Nepal. As an appointed vaccine ambassador for Franklin County Health Department and a primary care physician with a focus on preventive medicine, I knew very well that if there was one thing countries like Nepal needed to avert mass death and suffering, that would be timely and adequate access to vaccines. I wasted no time in reaching out to politicians in Ohio, both Democrats and Republicans, many of whom have been my patients. At the same time my friends in other states had also started reaching out to their political connections. Ultimately, it was connections like these that jump-started the turn of events that helped Nepal receiving substantial vaccine aid from the US.

But to get to that stage, it took hours and hours of diligent planning, coordinating and meeting at policy level as well as the help and goodwill of dozens of people. I must thank Senator Sherrod Brown’s office who I first reached out to in May 2021, responded with urgency to my earnest pleas about helping Nepal. Following a meeting with Senator’s office that was also attended by Mr. Kumar Raj Kharel (Deputy Chief of Mission-Nepal Embassy), Mr. Sunil Sah (NRN president) and Dr Bhupesh Khadka (ANMF president), Senator Brown talked to Under-Secretary Victoria Nuland about the vaccine situation in Nepal. Just a month later, I met with Mr. John Ryan (Senator Brown’s State Director), Ms. Beth Clotfelter (Appalachian Regional Representative) and Mr. Bhuwan Pyakurel (City of Reynoldsburg Councilman) in person in my hometown and explained about vaccine situation in Nepal. Impressed with my contributions to the community here, they took my words very seriously. Later, Senator Brown (D) informed us through a video message that he had been able to work with the Biden administration to secure 2 million doses of J&J vaccines for Nepal & Bhutan. https://secureservercdn.net/198.71.233.38/jjs.fd8.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/WhatsApp-Video-2022-03-25-at-16.19.33.mp4
Meanwhile, I contacted Senator Portman’s (R) office and had a meeting which was attended by Mr. Kevin Hoggatt (State Director for Senator Portman) and Mr. Taylor Clausen (Foreign affair legislative aide) who expressed their commitment to support Nepal at the senate.

My friend Mr. Mark Johnson (State Representative in Ohio’s 92nd district) helped me connect with Dr Brad Wenstrup’s office. Dr Wenstrup is the US representative for Ohio’s 2nd congressional district and a member of the GOP Doctors Caucus in Congress. He mentioned Nepal’s case during the house committee hearing on vaccines. It was the first time that Nepal’s name came up in the House floor in relation to vaccine assistance which was a much-needed media attention for Nepal. He said “I have a constituent of mine who is a doctor and he is from Nepal. He is talking how horrible it is there. Everyone is talking about India but it is same there too. They have no access to vaccine and no access to medical supplies.” Later, I received an email from Congressman’s office saying that because I brought this issue to Congressman’s attention, he was able to mention Nepal in the Committee hearing on vaccine which was the highest level of assistance possible from his side.

It is indeed a matter of great personal satisfaction to me that we could solicit the support of top US politicians in helping Nepal with vaccines. I cannot thank the American people and politicians enough for their generosity and genuine support in a time of great need for Nepal. I must also thank Mr. Homkant Bhandari from the Nepal Embassy to the US for coordinating COVID response, staff from the federal and state offices in the US, officials of the Ministry of Health in Nepal, DG Dr Dipendra R Singh, Dr Jhalak Gautam, Mr. Jyoti lama and volunteers from several Nepali professional and community organizations who helped to move this process.

We were fortunate to also have the support of many influential people who went out of their way to speak for Nepal on the international stage. I am most thankful to everyone who attended the high-level meeting that I organized in June 2021 with the aim of bringing all concerned authorities to one table for collectively advocating for vaccines for Nepal. We were able to bring together then Health Minister, Sher Bdr Tamang, then HE ambassador Dr Yubraj Khatiwada, Dr Dipendra Raman Singh (Director General- Health Ministry Nepal), Dr Jhalak Gautam (Chief of National immunization- Health Ministry Nepal), Mr. Kul Chandra Gautam (Former Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF), Dr Mahabir Pun (Chairperson-National Innovation Centers), and representatives of J&J and Moderna among others to this meeting to form a common strategy for Nepal’s COVID response efforts.

While many of these efforts turned out to be extremely fruitful, some other approaches have not worked. After I found out that there were 200,000 doses of soon to expire J&J vaccines and 30 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine stored in Westchester, Ohio, I reached out to then The Ohio Department of Health Director, Ms. Stephanie McCloud. Although, she was very kind to respond within a day, she informed us that the state did not have any jurisdiction over vaccines. Similarly, Scientist Dipendra Gnyawali of Moderna reached out to me after discovering that there are 1.5 million doses of unused Moderna vaccines that the Singapore government is planning to send to a third-world country and proposed that we could work to direct this aid to Nepal. We were excited at the prospect. Singapore government offered their full support in providing the vaccines. However, for various reasons, Nepal is not able to accept this assistance at this time. We were naturally disappointed but we are still continuing in our other efforts to help.

Meanwhile, I also continue my other work such as building the organization of Nepali and Bhutanese communities in Ohio, securing their political rights and cementing their power as one of the biggest immigrant communities in the state and working on other issues of general welfare for immigrant Nepalis in the US.

Throughout this journey, especially working on vaccine advocacy, what I have learned is that it is possible to achieve goals which seem big or impossible, if you have enough people who support and believe in you and are willing to walk alongside you. It is not always easy to find and build that community of people, especially when one is living outside your native country, but one cannot stop trying. No matter where we work and live, part of our hearts and minds are always in Nepal and I hope that I will be able to work for my people in both countries for as long as I can.

(Dr Damodar Poudel Honorary Consul of Nepal for Ohio works at Hopewell Health Centers https://www.hopewellhealth.org , Clinical Assistant professor – The Ohio State University, School of Medicine, Patron President of Central Ohio Nepali Association https://conaohio.org , Advisor – NRNA NCC, USA( 2022-2024) https://www.nrnusa.org , Advisor and President NIC USA – National innovation center(NIC) https://nicnepal.org . Dr Poudel can be reached at [email protected]

Meeting with Senator Browns office on 5/13/2021. Attended by Mr. Kumar Raj Kharel (Deputy Chief of Mission), Representative from Sen Brown’s office among others. Following the meeting Sen spoke with undersecretary Nuland regarding Nepal’s Vaccine situation

June 2021 Meeting to discuss strategy to procure/ help Nepal get vaccines. Then/former Health Minister, then/former Nepal’s Ambassador to US, DG MOHP Nepal, Former Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF, NIC Chairman among others participated in the meeting.

June 9th 2021 meeting with John Ryan (State Director Senator Brown); Beth Clodfelter (Appalachian Regional Representative for Sen Brown) and Councilman Bhuwan Pyakurel, City of Reynoldsburg, Ohio