Friday 1 July 2011

Bhutan - Gelephu hospital overwhelmed by labourers

Hundreds of Indian labourers are rushing to the Gelephu hospital to check their health and obtain a fitness certificate so that they can work for the many hydropower projects in Bhutan.

The exodus has been continuing for four days stretching the already limited human resource at the hospital. The doctors are struggling to cope with the rush.

The labour agents in Gelephu said the demand for labourers from the various hydropower projects has increased in the last few months.

Karma Dema, a labour agent, said “it is extremely difficult to get the labourers checked and process the certificate.”

Tashi Choedup, another labour agent, said they “would be grateful if there were separate doctors to conduct the tests.”

The labourers were brought from as far as Kolkata.

The Medical Superintendent in Gelephu said they “have to attend to serious patients first. Due to shortage of doctors, we cannot even treat all our patients. We talked with the labour agents and informed the ministry to find ways to solve the problem.

Every day, more than 200 labourers visit the hospital but doctors can check and issue certificates to only about 60 labourers.

There are nine labour agents in Gelephu.


No comments: