BRITISH MINISTER CONCLUDES NEPAL VISIT

ARMY CRACKDOWN AGAINST MUTINY
Kathmandu, 15 June: Twenty army men were dismissed for mutiny Tuesday by a summary military court at Indrabaksha Battalion in Beni on 28 March, an official army announcement said.
Soldiers assaulted Major Arjun Bahadur Singh after the death of a soldier during physical exercise.
Sixteen persons were awarded jail sentences ranging from six months to three years, five were demoted, promotions of eight were withheld for two years.
Major Singh’s promotion was also withheld.
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BRITISH MINISTER CONCLUDES NEPALVISIT
Kathmandu,15 June: Lynne Featherstone, UK Home Office Minister with responsibility for equality, concluded her 3-day visit to Nepal on Wednesday.
“I was quite impressed with the judiciary which has given landmark rulings on gender-based violence, on issues around homosexuality and third gender.
‘These decisions were quite advanced and I hope the government will be driving them through at the highest level,” she said before departure.
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GCC OKAYS UNAUTHORIZED LABS FOR WORKERS’ CHECKUP
Kathmandu, 15: The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a political and economic union of several Arab states, has allowed seven laboratories, which have yet not been authorized by the Nepal government, to conduct medical tests of Nepali workers, On Astha Rai writes in Republica.

An authorized technical team of the GCC, which recently visited Nepal, has allowed Alkhaleef Medical Centre, Aqua Diagnostic Services, Razam Medical Centre, Saiba Medical Centre, Mediasia Diagnostic Centre, Al-Mashoor Diagnostic Centre and Life Trust Medi Diagnostic Centre to conduct medical checkup of Nepali workers for Saudi Arabia and Oman.
However, the National Public Health Laboratory (NPHL), which issues licenses to Nepali health institutes for the medical checkup of Nepali workers, has not allowed any of them.

"They (the GCC-approved labs) may be well-equipped, but they cannot conduct medical tests of Nepali workers without first having obtained licenses," said Dr Geeta Shakya, executive director of the NPHL.

As of now, the NPHL has authorized a total of 179 laboratories for the medical checkup of Nepali workers. Although Foreign Employment Act-2007 allows all the NPHL-approved laboratories to conduct health checkup of Nepali migrant workers, several countries, including Saudi Arabia and Oman, have some other arrangements.

Only a few laboratories listed by the GCC-Approved Medical Centres´ Association (GAMCA) can conduct medical tests of workers for Saudi Arabia and Oman. Earlier, the GAMCA had approved five medical centers for the medical tests of Nepali workers for these countries.

With Nepal Health Professionals´ Federation (NHPF), an umbrella organization of the NPHL-approved health centers, mounting pressure for the enlistment of more Nepali health institutes under the GAMCA, the GCC had sent a team to Nepal to inspect more labs. However, of the total 27 laboratories inspected by the GCC team, only unauthorized medical centers were listed under the GAMCA.

According to Khadga Bahadur Shrestha, president of the NHPF, the GCC´s terms and conditions stipulate that the GAMCA-listed laboratories must be recognized by the health ministry of the concerned country. But, the GCC technical team has violated its own terms and conditions by selecting unauthorized laboratories. "The unauthorized laboratories must have bribed the GCC medical team," Shrestha said. "We will not accept this at any cost."

Shrestha has asked the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) to lobby for correcting "this mistake" by June 23. "If a concrete step is not taken to correct this error on time, we will launch protests," he said.
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NEPALI AMBASSADORS ASKED TO PREPARE FOR HOMECOMING

Kathmandu, 15 June: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) on Tuesday sent notices to 12 serving ambassadors and two consular generals to prepare to take leave as their four-year tenure comes to an end before December, The Kathmandu Post reports.

Foreign Secretary Madan Kumar Bhattarai on Tuesday sent the circular to 14 Nepali missions abroad asking the envoys to prepare to go on leave and send details of support they need when they return to the country. This is perhaps the first time that MoFA has asked sitting envoys to make the preparations before they complete their term. “The cut-off date is December-end for those who complete their four-year term. It is an international practice, but new to us,” said a senior foreign ministry official. No decision has been taken to replace these envoys. Sources said Nepal’s envoy to India Rukma Shumsher Rana will be recalled soon. The notices have been served to Tanka Karki (Beijing), Pradip Khaditwada (Dhaka), Ganesh Yonjan (Tokyo), Kamal Koirala (Seoul), Surya Nath Misra (Doha), Arjun Thapa (Abu Dhabi), Baija Nath Thapalia (Tel Aviv), Surya Kiran Gurung (Moscow), Pramesh Hamal (Brussels), Guna Laxmi Sharma Bishwokarma (Yangon), Naveen Prakash Jung Shah (Bangkok) and Dinesh Bhattarai (Geneva). Two consular generals who also received the notice are Naiendra Prasad Uphadhya (Lhasa) and Suresh Kumar Shrestha (Kolkata).

Karki, Yonjan, Koirala, Hamal and Bishwokarma were appointed from the UML quota in 2007. Envoys Misra, Thapalia, Gurung and Shah were appointed from the NC quota, while Thapa, Bhattrai and Khatiwada are career diplomats.

“Some are completing their tenure in four months while some will take five more months. It will be easy for us to make an exit plan of the envoys as millions of rupees will be spent in their return process,” the official said.
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