The government is going to implement the report of the high-level expert task force on health to ensure the quality health examination of workers going for foreign employment. The Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security has decided to implement the report of a high-level expert task force on Friday to eliminate the wrong practice of issuing 'medical fit' reports without the presence of workers.

A 30-member task force led by the then Additional Secretary of the Health Ministry, Dipendra Raman Singh, submitted a report to Labor, Employment and Social Security Minister Sharat Singh Bhandari on December 11. The members of the task force included expert doctors from Veer, Shishak, Patan, Shaheed Dharmabhakta, Shukraraj Topical, Kist Medical, Tilganga Eye Hospital and others.

The Ministry of Labor has decided to digitize the system, add materials for health tests, improve labs and expand the scope of health tests to make listed health institutions, doctors and workers responsible, to ensure quality health tests and to end the wrong practice of reporting medical fitness. 

'There is a big problem in the health examination of workers going to foreign jobs. It is an established fact that false health reports are given without testing the workers. As a result, the workers are falling into a death trap," Labor Minister Sharatsingh Bhandari said. The specialist doctor has studied this matter in depth and submitted a report.

According to the Ministry of Labor, the scope of health examination of workers has also been expanded. In which thyroid, kidney and sugar will have to be tested (HBAVanc). Earlier only general testing of workers was being done. Its fee is determined according to the government rate. 

It is said that due to the lack of quality health examination, the kidneys of those who go for foreign employment are at high risk. According to the data of Shahid Dharmabhakt Transplantation Center, 28.9 percent of those undergoing kidney dialysis have returned from foreign employment. 

British Barnmouth University and Greentara Nepal conducted kidney tests among 718 people who returned from abroad and 720 local people in Laxminia and Chireswarnath Rural Municipality of Dhanusha. In the test, there were more kidney problems in those who went abroad for employment than those who stayed in the country. Those who returned from abroad had more problems like high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity than the locals. 

According to the records of the Foreign Employment Board, 14,666 workers have died in the last 14 years. Most of them died from heart attack 19, 19.5 from natural causes and 7 from workplace accidents, 12.7 from road accidents, 11 from suicide and the remaining 30.8 percent died from other causes. But most of the certificates contain words like 'natural, sudden death, heart attack, unnatural'. 

According to the high-level expert task force led by Singh, the health problems of Nepali workers in foreign employment have been classified into 8 groups and a solution has been proposed. These include physical problems (musculoskeletal, disorders, injuries, heat-related), chemical risks and respiratory problems (harmful chemical exposure, blood cancer, respiratory diseases), mental health (work stress, anxiety, depression, social isolation), gynecological, reproductive and sexual health problems (sexual abuse, lack of pregnancy care, menstrual problems), infectious (TB, covid-19, gastrointestinal, sexually transmitted infections), non-communicable (heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, Obesity), neurological (Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, migraines, muscle weakness) and cardio related diseases like high blood pressure and diabetes. 

Labor Minister Bhandari said that arrangements will be made to monitor through digitization to completely prevent the negligence of health institutions or doctors who examine the health of workers. The Supreme Court has decided to regulate and make health institutions responsible for health examination of workers going to foreign employment.

According to the full text of Judges Deepak Kumar Karki and Hariprasad Phuyal prepared on January 7, 2077, Dr. Kiran Basnet, who returned medically unfit, suffered mental, financial, physical and material damage. Buddha Basnyat and Nepal International Clinic were ordered to pay 3 lakh compensation. 

In order to minimize the health risks of workers in foreign employment, Singh said that the government should strictly monitor to create an environment of health examination with the mandatory presence of a doctor. 'Which profession/business are you going to be employed for? Accordingly, standards should be made to manage health examinations and reports, he said. Singh says that it is necessary to make the health institutions listed by the government standardized according to international standards and made uniform for all countries.