MoLESS to enlist medical centers providing services to Nepali nationals going abroad

Kathmandu / Mar 27: The Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security (MoLESS) is all set to enlist new medical centers which provide medical check-up services to Nepali nationals going abroad in search of job opportunities.

In a notice on Wednesday, the MoLESS appealed the old and new medical centers to be registered within next ten days.

The ministry’s move is aimed at ending monopoly of medical centers in issuing health certificates to Nepali workers going abroad in search of job opportunities, according to officials.

According to Joint Secretary at the MoLESS Ram Prasad Ghimire, those medical centers which were certified by the government can file application to be enlisted within the deadline.

Ghimire said that the list of medical centers has not been updated since 2012. Only 200 medical centers were enlisted until 2012 and since then no other medical centers have been certified.

“Those medical centers which meet the criterion set introduced by the ministry will be enlisted while those failing to meet the criterion will be excluded,” he said.

Once the ministry publishes the list of medical centers, they will only be allowed to conduct the medical tests of migrant workers seeking job opportunities in foreign countries.

Meanwhile, the MoLESS is now making homework to prepare criterion for monitoring and renewal of health institutions that have been issuing health certificates to workers going for foreign employment.

The ministry’s move comes amid complaints that medical certificates issued by such medical centers to Nepali migrant workers were rejected in the destination country, forcing the thousands of Nepali migrant workers to come back home. There was a growing demand for taking action against against such health institutions for the past few years.