37 health centres barred from providing medical check-up service to migrants
Kathmandu, December 10
The government has barred 37 health check-up institutions from providing medical examination service to migrant workers.
The Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security (MoLESS) has withdrawn their permit to conduct health check-ups and forwarded a letter informing about the move to the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE).
As per MoLESS, the 37 institutions were not abiding by the provisions of Foreign Employment Guidelines (Fifth Amendment, 2008). As per amendment guidelines, the health check-up firms have to deposit Rs 500,000 as bank guarantee to continue their work. The ministry has stated that it has suspended the user name and password of the health institutions.
Pradeep Raj Adhikari, information officer at MoLESS, said the ministerial-level meeting has directed DoFE to bar the errant health institutions from providing service to migrant workers.
The firms include Helping Health Medical Centre, Venus Hospital, Kantipur Medical Centre, Navajeevan Hospital, Godawari Medicity Hospital, Annapurna Neuro Hospital, Chitwan Medical College, Om Hospital and Research Centre, Nobel Hospital, Siddhi Poly Clinic, among others.
Earlier, the government had finalised 122 health check-up centres to provide medical examinations of migrants going to Malaysia.
These centres have to receive authentication from the Malaysian government before being able to commence their service. However, some of the firms have also not deposited the bank guarantee to initiate health check-up service of migrant workers. “We are filtering such firms and will soon finalise the institutions that will be allowed to conduct health check-ups of migrants aspiring to go to Malaysia,” informed Adhikari.
The Malaysian government officials were scheduled to visit Nepal to finalise the health check-up firms in November, but the trip has been postponed and the next date has not been fixed yet. As per MoLESS, the Malaysian government has expressed dissatisfaction with the infrastructure of the short-listed institutions and they want to cut down the number of such firms.
