Nepali migrant workers in Qatar died at the rate of almost one a day between June 4 and August 8 this year, many of them young men who suffered heart attacks, a reputed UK newspaper reported on Thursday. The Guardian attributed the 44 deaths to hazardous work conditions and cramped and squalid living quarters for the Nepalis in the Gulf Emirate.

A series of investigative reports exposed the appaling scenes of exploitation and abuse of Nepali migrant workers that amount to ‘modern-day slavery.’ At least 4,000 migrant workers, mostly from the Indian sub-continent, are set to pay their lives by the time Qatar realises its once-in-a-lifetime dream of hosting the 2022 World Cup, the newspaper quoted the International Trade Union Congress as saying.

It warned that the death of the migrant workers, mostly unskilled, in construction sites could rise to 600 a year unless the Doha government starts immediate reforms.

The latest estimation made by the Nepali Embassy in Qatar shows that around 600,000 Nepalis work in the gas-rich state, although exact figures are hard to come by.

Foreign employment experts in Kathmandu say that the ground reality is worse than what has been portrayed in the news report. Nepali labourers are mostly unskilled, uneducated and unaware of labour rights and fall easy prey to traffickers as well as employers.

“They are compelled to endure hardships as they are over-burdened with high-interest loans back home,” an expert in foreign employment, Ganesh Gurung, said.

The annual death record released by the Foreign Employment Promotion Board last month showed that at least 151 Nepali workers died in Qatar in the last fiscal year. The figure is based on the number of workers whose family members claimed compensation from the state. There are, however, families who never claim the compensation.

According to the Consular Section at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at least 1,600 Nepali workers have died in the country since the Nepali Embassy was set up in 2000.

Also a former member of the National Planning Commission, Gurung said stakeholders have never questioned the death of the ‘physically and mentally fit’ Nepali labourers in the Gulf.

“Not only in Qatar, the plight of Nepali workers is more appalling in countries well across the Gulf and Malaysia. While the government is not in the position to say what is causing all these deaths, post-mortem reports also do not specify the cause of the deaths,” Gurung said.

“The investigation found sickness is endemic among workers living in overcrowded and insanitary conditions and hunger has been reported,” the Guardian said.

Senior cardiologist Dr Prakash Raj Regmi, who deals with migrant workers’ health issues, also blamed harsh climatic conditions, the unhealthy lifestyle of the migrants and stress for the deaths.

“Most heart-related ailments occur because they are exposed to extreme heat and cold at the same time. They work at very high temperatures and take rest in a cold room, which leads to a sudden contraction of the heart, leading to blockages in the blood circulation system and ultimately death,” he said.

Stakeholders have been pressing the government to deploy a doctor in each Nepali embassy across its labour destination to conduct autopsies on the dead bodies, as, according to them, the reports prepared by foreign doctors are barely credible and conducted out of obligation.

“While looking into several death cases, we found that the workers had undergone operations for sensitive organs like kidneys. There is reasonable ground to suspect foul play in the deaths,” said Gurung.

Data at the Foreign Ministry here show that over 7,200 Nepali workers have died in Gulf countries and Malaysia ever since Nepali embassies there started keeping records.

Published on: 27 September 2013 | The Kathmandu Post