Plans afoot to lay off staff of Nepal Drugs

KATHMANDU:

The Ministry of Finance (MoF) is planning to lay off employees of Nepal Drugs Ltd (NDL) — the drug manufacturing public enterprise — as it has stopped production since three years back after failing to meet the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) compliance of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

There are 240 employees at NDL who are being paid even without them doing any work since its closure, according to Nirmal Hari Adhikari, joint secretary at the MoF, who looks after the Corporation Coordination Division at the ministry.

“The government has been spending about Rs 90 million every fiscal to pay the salaries of the workers though the chances of the company being revived are slim,” he added.

The Corporation Coordination Division had previously requested the Ministry of Industry (MoI) — parent ministry of Nepal Drugs Ltd — to lay off the staffers by offering facilities as per the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS). However, MoI seems to still be hopeful of reviving the company.

As per Adhikari, the government needs to inject about Rs 300 million to bring Nepal Drugs into operation again. Besides, its outstanding loans stand at Rs 493.26 million.

“We need to invest for machineries and other requirements to meet the WHO standard of drugs manufacturing,” said Adhikari, adding, “However, we are not sure that Nepal Drugs will be able to compete with private sector run pharmaceutical companies even after we have made that investment.”

MoF will further consult with MoI to propose VRS for staffers and start the liquidation process of the company.

Source: THT