A joint bench of Justices Rishi Raj Bhandari and Shiv Bahadur Ranabhat ruled on Thursday that an interim order was not required.
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The Patan High Court has refused to issue an interim order against the decision of Minister for Labor, Employment and Social Security Rajendra Singh Bhandari to scrap the expanded health screening and fees for workers going for foreign employment.
A joint bench of Justices Rishi Raj Bhandari and Shiva Bahadur Ranabhat on Thursday ordered that an interim order should not be issued. The Federation of Nepal Health Professionals and the Nepal Medical Professionals Association had filed a writ petition in the High Court demanding the quashing of the direct decision of Labor Minister Bhandari.
Now, until the final order on this writ is issued, health professionals will be allowed to charge 19 types of health tests and a fee of Rs 6,500.
On March 22, the government had made the seventh amendment to the 'Working Procedures for Health Examination of Workers Going for Foreign Employment, Listing, Renewal and Monitoring-2072' on the recommendation of the expert committee as per the Health Institution Standards-2077 of the Ministry of Health and Population, the Report of the Study Task Force formed to improve the health examination of workers going for foreign employment, and the Foreign Employment Regulations-2064. This had made the standards for 34 types of health examinations by adding health examination materials and improving the lab. The fee for that was fixed at Rs 9,500. Before that, Rs 6,500 was fixed for 19 types of health tests.
On November 20, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Labor made a decision According to the 'Working Procedures for Health Examination of Workers Going for Foreign Employment, Listing, Renewal and Monitoring-2072 (Amended)', 171 health institutions that met the new standards were listed (newly selected). 29 health institutions that did not meet the new standards have been removed from the listing.
According to the revised working procedure, it took the Ministry of Labor 9 months to select the health institutions by monitoring the health institutions that had added health test materials and improved their labs. After the listed health institutions were selected, the health tests were expanded and the new fees were implemented.
After the Nepal Foreign Employment Entrepreneurs Association objected to the expanded health tests and fees, the newly appointed Labor Minister Bhandari scrapped the new standards. Nepali foreign employment entrepreneurs argued in court in favor of Labor Minister Bhandari's decision. Labor Minister Bhandari had said that the employer is not required to test for all diseases.
The major tests added include blood tests (CBC, ESR, platelets), tuberculosis tests (chest X-ray, Mantoux test, sputum AFB), kidney function tests (serum urea, creatinine), hepatitis B and C, malaria, sugar, typhoid, etc.
In addition, it was arranged to separate the risk groups of the workers according to their age and occupation and conduct necessary tests for occupational diseases (respiratory problems, skin diseases, muscle and bone problems, cancer, diabetes, heart disease).
