Ill-informed Nepali workers abroad pay heavy price

KATHMANDU, Sept 24: Death of Karna Bahadur Gharti Magar, 23, of Rolpa, that triggered strike in Malaysia two months ago, drew international media attention, but what passed almost unnoticed by the press was that he died due to overdose of medicines, something which could have been avoided easily.

Magar is not the only person who lost his life due to such callous disregard and the lack of awareness; lives of a total of 124 Nepali workers have needlessly been blighted during the year.
And the causes of death, unfortunately, are ones which they could have easily been avoided, according to Surya Bhandari, Labor Attaché to Malaysia.

Industrial accident, road accident, chronic disease and suicide are routinely cited as the major causes of death of Nepalis in Malaysia.

With proper information-sharing and prior knowledge about coping with the stresses and strains of the job and the kind of work environment there, those lives would have been saved, Bhandari said.

“The condition of the Nepalis in Gulf countries is nonetheless pitiable,” he added.

The unspeakable suffering and the death toll of Nepali workers in foreign lands has raised serious questions about the effectiveness of pre-departure orientation given to workers by different agencies.

The existing foreign employment law says that the government is responsible for duly informing the foreign countries´ laws, climate, working conditions, culture and the way of life to foreign-bound workers.

Nepali diplomatic missions have routinely complaint that despite the standard orientation training, Nepali workers are unaware of traffic rules, weather condition, healthcare provisions and medication. Apart from using mobile phones in workplaces, they are also unaware of modern technologies and machines, and are not being thrift.

They have also raised doubts about the effectiveness of orientations given by the agencies.

However, the operators of such training centers quickly brush aside the accusations and finger the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) for the pathetic state of Nepali workers abroad. Says Shovit Basnet, managing director of Merapeak Multiple Pvt. Ltd, an orientation center, “We´re providing trainings as per the curriculum prepared by DoFE.”

“If that isn´t enough, it´s not our fault. DoFE should revise it if there are lapses in the training module,” he added.

However, a highly-placed source informed Republica that the plight of Nepali workers has largely to do with growing practice of training centers issuing the workers orientation certificates even without their actual participation in the training.

“Orientation training has become a lucrative business for many; they just charge the fees and issue the certificates,” said the source.

Going by the existing law, DoFE and Foreign Employment Promotion Board (FEPB) must jointly conduct monitoring of the training centers. “Sadly, however, concerned monitoring authority is doing nothing to correct the situation,” the official bemoaned.

There are over three dozen orientation centers operating in the capital -- many of them flouting the laws.

Interestingly, Kashi Nath Marashini, director of DoFE, admitted the problems of the training centers, not ruling out the role of training centers in landing the Nepali workers in a soup.

“Even our inspections have disclosed that many of the orientation centers lack adequate training equipments and materials. This is compounded by the growing practice of selling orientation certificates,” he added.

The officials, despite being the regulatory authority, however, expressed his helplessness to change the current situation, citing his inability to take actions against these centers, owing to lack of commitment of the ´higher authority´.

http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=23625