Nepal Foreign Employment Medical Association (NEFEMA) has expressed its reservations against the Biometric Medical (Bio-Medical) Test System by staging a protest against the Malaysian embassy.

Citing that taking the test would increase the cost for both medical centres and foreign job seekers to Malaysia, NEFEMA staged a peaceful protest against the Malaysian embassy for around two hours today. Led by chairperson of NEFEMA Khadga Bahadur Shrestha, representatives of more than 40 medical centres were present during the protest programme where they displayed banners and placards before submitting a petition to the acting ambassador of Malaysia Fadli Faliadilah.

 According to Shrestha, while receiving the petition, Faliadilah said that he is ready to accept a software developed by the Nepali government, if it develops one, to replace the software developed by Bestinet Sdn Bhd — a software and technology wing of the JR Group of Malaysia.

 However, when approached by The Himalayan Times, Faliadilah declined to comment on the matter.

 Shrestha further added that the association is against the Bio-Medical Test System considering the increased cost for both medical centres and foreign job seekers to Malaysia. He pointed out that the initial cost to set up the system is $8,000 (Rs 800,000 approximately) for a medical centre and every year it will have to pay 33 per cent of this amount (Rs 264,000) as renewal fee, which would be too expensive for medical centres. He further mentioned that due to this system, medical check-up charge for foreign job aspirants to Malaysia will also increase by $15 to Rs 4,125 from the existing fee of Rs 2,625.

 According to general secretary of NEFEMA Madhav Prasad Gautam, “If this is a decision made by the Malaysian government, it has to be channelled through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of both the countries. However, we see only the involvement of Ministry of Labour and Employment (MoLE) of Nepal.”

 He also alleged that some high ranking officials of MoLE could be involved with Bestinet Sdn Bhd in introducing the Bio-Medical Test System in the country and warned that launching it would force many medical centres of the country to shut down.

 Previously, Shrestha had mentioned that Bestinet Sdn Bhd had been lobbying strongly with MoLE to launch the Bio-Medical system in the country in a clandestine manner.

 NEFEMA plans to stage a protest tomorrow at Hanumansthan, Anamnagar, against the Ministry of Labour and Employment, and the Prime Minister’s Office and also plans to submit their petition to the concerned officials.

Published on: 17 January 2014 | The Himalayan Times