The GCC-Approved Medical Centres´ Association (GAMCA) has closed down all 12 medical centers, recognized by the GCC for conducting medical tests of Gulf-bound Nepali workers, since last Monday, protesting an attack on its office in Teku, Kathmandu, by an unidentified gang the previous day. [break]
As workers need to produce health certificates before applying for visa, they have been desperately waiting for the GCC-approved centers to resume services.
“Most of the Gulf-bound workers come to Kathmandu in the morning and return to their villages in the evening by night buses after visiting medical centers,” said Kumud Khanal, general secretary of Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies (NAFEA). “Such workers are seriously affected by the closure of medical centers. Those who are already in Kathmandu are visiting medical centers every day, only to return disappointed.”
There is, however, no end in sight to the Nepali workers´ predicament. “We will not resume our service unless those involved in the attack are arrested,” said Dr Ravi Rauniyar, chairman of the GAMCA.
The GAMCA has accused the Nepal Health Professionals´ Federation (NHPF) of plotting the attack on its office last Sunday. “Who else other than NHPF benefits from the closure of our service?” questioned Dr Rauniyar. “It is crystal clear. But, no action has been taken against them.”
The NHPF, an umbrella organization of all medical centers apart from the GCC approved 12 laboratories, has long been demanding that the NHPF-affiliated labs too be allowed to conduct medical tests of Gulf-bound Nepali workers. Recently, NHPF had even succeeded in forcing the Department of Commerce (DoC) into instructing the GAMCA to shut down by carrying out a series of protest programs.
“Since the DoC has already instructed the GAMA to shut down its services, we need not resort to violence at all,” said Khadga Bahadur Shrestha, president of NHPF, adding. “The attack is in fact a plot hatched by GAMCA itself to gain sympathy from the government.”
On an average, about 200 Nepali workers aspiring to work in Saudi Arabia and Oman visit the GCC-approved medical centers every day. Qatar, which has recently surpassed other Gulf countries in hiring unskilled Nepali laborers, too, has announced that it would only recognize health certificates issued by the GCC-approved labs.
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