Negligence in the health examination of those going to foreign employment

In order to ensure the quality of the workers' health examination, on August 12, Labor sent a monitoring team with experts under the leadership of the Deputy Secretary to monitor and inspect the health institutions inside and outside the Kathmandu Valley. The monitoring team pointed out that there was extreme negligence in the health examination. In the monitoring, it was revealed that the report was prepared without examining the health of the workers. Although the C grade lab has been approved for operation, the standards of the lab are not met. Neither are the lab staff. The man found on the road is caught and shown to the technician. It has been found that the report of the health check-up has been prepared without the test," the report said, "those health institutions do not even have enough space. There are no machine tools, even those that are not in operation. Most of the medical facilities have only computers and printers in the name of machine tools.'

The Ministry of Labor has stopped the business of 67 health institutions that failed to implement the standards related to the health examination of workers. However, the health institutions that violated the same standards have been pressuring the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security to provide access for uploading the health examination report issued by them to the Foreign Employment Information Management System (FEMIS). There is a provision that only health institutions registered with the Ministry of Labor after obtaining approval from the Ministry of Health and Population can carry out health examinations of workers going for foreign employment. The labor permit is issued only after uploading the health check report of the workers tested by the health institution to FEMIS.

The monitoring team found that the standards set by the health organization that has been issuing certificates since the 20th year have not been met. In many institutions, reports have been prepared without the presence of a doctor. Coke-Fenta is kept in the medicine fridge. The kit/reagent packet has not been opened. The X-ray machine is not in operation. Medical institutions have not followed the health standards issued in 2072. While the Ministry of Labor made a new standard in 2078 after the destination countries repeatedly raised questions about the health examination of workers.

Former Nepali ambassador to Qatar, Nardanath Bharadwaj, said that the destination countries take the issue of workers' health examination very seriously. Recently in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) the issue of the quality of health screening of workers was also raised in the Abu Dhabi Dialogue involving top labor officials including labor ministers of source and destination countries. In the joint meetings between Nepal and the destination country, the employer countries have been saying that they will only be responsible for the accident at the workplace, saying that poor health examination is behind the death of Nepali workers.

Malaysia, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, the main destination countries of Nepali workers, have chosen from the listed health institutions to conduct quality health checks and have kept their own systems in Nepal. The monitoring team also monitored 36 health institutions in Malaysia, 1 in Qatar and 19 in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain and Oman (Gamka Nepal). The monitoring team said that 145 health institutions including them have followed the Ministry's standards. Malaysia, Qatar and GAMCA have come to Kathmandu to continuously monitor their health institutions. Visas are issued only after the health report from them is issued.

"The matter of giving time to meet the standards within the specified period or canceling the action is being discussed," said an official of the ministry. The expert committee has been given the power to dismiss health institutions for not meeting the criteria. A bond of five lakh rupees must be deposited for registration in the foreign employment department. According to the Ministry of Labor, there is a provision for renewal of health institutions that meet the criteria for three years.

According to the Procedures for Listing, Renewal and Monitoring of Health Institutions for Health Examination of Workers Going to Foreign Employment - 2072, if the health examination report is made without being present at the health institution of Nepali workers going to foreign employment, if it is found that the worker has not been examined in all the prescribed matters, the health examination report of each day If the details are not sent to the department, if the worker's health examination report and other records are not preserved for one year, and if the quarterly report of the health examination is not submitted to the secretariat, it will be removed from the list of the Ministry of Labor and will be sent for legal action.