Nepali outsourcing agencies and health professional promised to fight jointly against the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) approved Medical Centre’s Association (GAMCA), which has monopoly in medical check up for overseas-bound Nepali migrant workers.
“We should be united to solve the problem,” Kumud Khanal, general secretary of Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies (NAFEA) said in a programme organised here today. He urged Nepal Health Professional Federation (NHPF) to take the case seriously and start pressurising the government. “We should handle the case diplomatically,”
he said adding that traditional type of protest programmes could not solve the problem.
NHPF has been fighting against GAMCA monopoly in medical check up of Nepali migrant workers going to GCC countries since March 2009. The umbrella organisations of 153 medical centres have already staged sit-in, street
protest and padlocked five GAMCA offices in Kathmandu.
The GCC countries include Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, and Yemen. Among them Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE are the major destinations for Nepali migrant workers. Those countries have hired around
12,849 Nepalis from mid-March to mid-April that is over 40 per cent of total migrant workers.
Gyanu Gaire, second vice-president of NAFEA promised joint efforts to solve the problem by providing equal opportunities for NHPF members. “NAFEA wants equal opportunity for 153 medical centres registered under Foreign Employment Act,” he said, “At least GAMCA biding process should be acceptable to all.” GAMCA has criteria — while appointing medical centres — like a medical centre should have adequate physical facilities and expertise to accommodate the pressure of clients, must abide by the GCC standard in medical examinations and must pay inspection fees, registration fees and membership fees in time.
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