Deaths of Nepali migrants
Every day, one Nepali migrant worker dies in Malaysia. A Nepali worker dies every alternate day in Qatar while they die at the rate of five a month in the UAE. And they die young. The average age of Nepali migrants who die abroad is just 30 years. Half of all these deaths are attributed to ‘natural causes’. But why would the seemingly able-bodied young men, who have been screened for health, die so young? Among the various factors attributed for their sudden demise are long hours of work, scorching heat, poor living quarters, unhealthy food and heavy drinking. It is not hard to imagine a typical day in the life of a Nepali migrant worker. He works for anywhere between 12-18 hours a day. By the time he gets back to his living quarters, already filled with other with migrant workers, he is exhausted. But there is no time to look after his weary body because he will be starting another shift in six hours. The only way to sustain this wretched existence, day after day after day, is to drink yourself blind at the end of your daily work and hope you awake ready for another backbreaking day.

Only the hardiest of human beings can survive such a grueling schedule. But many Nepali migrant workers are far from completely fit. They would have gone without proper medical check-ups. Others produce fake certificates of health to cover any underlying illness. So the first line of duty for the government is to put in place a proper health screening system for migrant workers. The health-certifying agencies in Nepal producing fake health certificate for migrant workers must be punished and their owners thrown into jail. They deserve nothing less for playing with people’s lives. The next course of action would be to secure decent working conditions for Nepalis in labor-receiving countries. For instance, no one should be allowed to work for an ungodly 18 hours a day, the number of daily hours many Nepalis are seemingly working for in Malaysia. But this can only happen if there are bilateral labor agreements committing the labor-recipient countries to regularly monitor the working conditions of Nepali workers. Are they getting the kind of nutritious food that was promised to them at the start? Are there provisions for adequate drinking water at work? For periodic health check-ups?

Some believe that if Nepal starts making too many demands of host countries, they will simply refuse to take in Nepali workers. But what we are asking for are not maximal benefits. Optimal work hours, nutritious food and decent lodgings are the bare minimum that the companies can do for those who toil, day and night, on their behalf. It’s in the interest of the companies too. Hiring new workers is among the most time-consuming and costly jobs. So it makes sense for companies to try to retain and look after their trained workers, so that they don’t fall sick and dampen company productivity. The current system of labor recruitment and employment is deeply flawed—and inhumane. There can be no justification to continue with a system that leads to so many untimely (and often avoidable) deaths of young Nepalis.  

 
• nepali migrants
 
• malaysia
 
• editorial