News
Authorised medical centre unilaterally ups fees for West Asia bound workers
A private medical association has opted to defy an order from the authorities and continues to fleece millions of rupees from West Asian bound workers as fees for a Health Clearance Certificate (HCC).
The Gulf Approved Medical Centre Association (GAMCA) that is mandated to approve health certificates for Lankan expatriate workers taking up employment in Gulf countries is alleged to have arbitrarily raised the fee from Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 7,500 for a medical card, an official with the foreign employment industry told the Sunday Times.The increase in fee came into effect in the beginning of April this year.
Montage of the Cosumer Affairs Council directive
Faizer Mackeen with the Association for Licensed Foreign Employment Agencies (ALFEA) charged that GAMCA had taken this decision without consulting the other stake holders in the industry and was now refusing to comply with a written order issued by the Consumer Affairs Council (CAC) to revert to the earlier fee.
He further said that that an order issued by the Ministry of Foreign Employment, Promotion and Welfare urging GAMCA to comply with the CAC order has also been totally ignored, suggesting that certain errant officials were probably on the take.
Mr. Mackeen alleged that even the monitoring body of the industry which is the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) has also opted to remain silent on the issue for reasons known only to it.
He added that GAMCA which operates 15 centres claims that the increase in the fee was carried out on the instructions of its foreign principal known as the Gulf Health Ministers Council (GHMC) and therefore it was helpless in the matter.
SLFEB General Manager Batagoda said that it was the responsibility of the CAC to look into the matter and initiate the necessary action through the legal system of the country.
“The CAC is fully within the law to act on the matter and treat it with the utmost seriousness since it deals with the single largest foreign exchange earning industry in the country”, Mr. Batagoda said.However he added that the SLFEB would also go into the matter at the very earliest and necessary action would be initiated in consultation with other stake holders in the industry.
Officials with GAMCA could not be reached for comment in this regard yesterday despite several attempts to reach them.
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