Nepali drug regulators are probing a case of Bahraini prince who brought AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine shots into the country without any permission, BBC reported.
The report revealed that prince Mohamed Hamad Mohamed al-Khalifa landed in Nepal on Monday with over 2,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine.
After the investigation began, the Bahraini embassy told Nepal-based media that the prince intended to donate the vaccine to villagers in the Gorkha district.
On Tuesday Thaneshwor Guragain, a spokesperson for Seven Summits Trek, the company that dealt with Prince al-Khalifa and his trip to Nepal, told the Himalayan Times that the prince would finish a week-long quarantine before moving to the Chumnurbi Rural Municipality, in Gorkha district.
The company further revealed that the prince planned to "distribute 2,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines against the Covid-19 infection for the people of Samagaun village."
The prince and his team planned to climb Mount Everest afterward, Guragain added.
Nepal's Department of Drug Administration maintained that it had initiated a probe regarding the import of the vaccines.
"We have started an official discussion on how the vaccines reached Nepal," a spokesman for the regulator told BBC Nepali.
He added: "The health ministry and the Department of Drug Administration in Nepal are unaware of the import of the vaccine. We are told the delegation arrived yesterday evening. We have heard they have brought 2,000 vaccines. The issue is still under investigation."
According to the state media, foreigners are required to seek approval from the drug regulators in Nepal to bring the vaccine into the country and take the guarantee that the vaccine drug will be properly stored and handled.
The country began its inoculation on January 27.