Number of sick foreigners arriving to work here increasing

The Star, 4 June 2007

TAIPING: More than 40,000 foreign workers have been sent back to their country of origin after failing their health checks last year, said Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek. This figure, he said, represented 3.4% of the 1.3 million foreign workers who underwent mandatory health checks.

“This is worrying as the figure keeps increasing over the years,” he told reporters after opening a blood donation campaign here yesterday. Dr Chua said certain diseases such as tuberculosis, leprosy and malaria made a comeback in recent years because of foreign workers.

Last year, the ministry detected 10,376 cases of tuberculosis, Hepatitis B (15,000), syphilis (3,600) and HIV (740). Dr Chua urged employers to cooperate and send their foreign workers for health checks. “Don’t put it off just because you want to save some money. These workers can be the cause of diseases to your family,” he advised.

On the ministry’s part, Dr Chua said they had made it compulsory for foreign workers to undergo medical checks a month, a year and two years after their arrival. “This is to ensure they are free from infectious diseases,” he added.

To a question, Dr Chua said the Government had no choice but to send the foreign workers who failed their health checks back to their country of origin. “We cannot continue subsidising healthcare for immigrants,” he said, citing the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kota Kinabalu as an example where 25% of inpatients were foreigners. “Once they get admitted, they also take the hospital’s pillows, table fans and flasks,” he quipped.

On another matter, Dr Chua said the ministry had signed a memorandum of understanding with private hospitals for the latter to not charge their patients exorbitantly for blood supplied by Government hospitals. “If they fail to fulfil the agreement, blood supply to private hospitals will be cut off,” he added.