The Bhutanese Leading the way.
The health ministry is planning to standardize the format and fee for issuing medical certificate, a required document when applying for driving license, employment and employment or study abroad.
As of now there is disparity in fee and format of the Medical Certificate (MC) issued by different hospitals in the country.
The new standardized certificate will require more details to be filled by applicants and examined by a doctor.
Currently the fee to acquire a medical certificate at Jigme Dorji Wangchuk National Referral Hospital (JDWNRH) is Nu 100 for general and employment purpose, Nu 300 for driving license and employment or studies abroad. Some hospitals give it for free. The validity is for six month from date of issue.
The Medical Superintendent of JDWNRH, Dr Gosar Pemba, said check-up depends on purpose of the Medical Certificate. If it is for employment the applicant doesn’t need to have a thorough check-up since the actual requirement for the job is capability to handle the position. “But for driving license, we mainly need to check disabilities and hypertension and for the abroad, we check for certain disease like TB and HIV/AIDs which is highly restricted by some countries like Australia,” he said.
At least 50 to 60 applicants visit the JDWNRH hospital to acquire the medical certificate everyday from 4pm till 7pm. “But it depends on season. We get excess numbers during the time of graduation and vacancy announcement.”
