Materia Medica Malaysiana

Online system will cut processing time by half: Fomema

FOMEMA Sdn Bhd, the company granted a concession by the Government to monitor and supervise the medical examination of foreign workers in Malaysia, has tied up with DBIX Systems Sdn Bhd and Hewlett-Packard (M) Sdn Bhd to develop a new integrated online system (NIOS) which would reduce by 50% the processing time of such medical examinations.

The web-based system would enable the registration of foreign workers nationwide. Fomema's panel of doctors, laboratories and medical facilities would then be able to collaborate on the medical examination results electronically over the Web. The system is expected to be implemented in October.

“The RM3mil project aims to speed up nationwide processing of foreign workers' health examination results and thus reduce waiting time. This will benefit the country's human resource requirements. Other benefits include a higher rate of customer satisfaction as a result of the faster processing of medical examinations of foreign workers,” said Datuk Dr Abdul Aziz Mahmood, chairman of Fomema.

Abdul Aziz was talking to the press after a signing ceremony between Fomema, DBIX and HP in Subang Jaya.

He said Fomema has been looking into ways of upgrading its online system for some time and was confident that with DBIX and HP, the NIOS would lead to greater efficiency and productivity.

Fomema's role here is to ensure all foreign workers hired legally undergo a medical examination for various communicable diseases such as tuberculosis. Only after they are deemed fit for employment would the foreign workers be issued with work permits by the Immigration Department.

Currently, Fomema's medical examinations are only conducted after the first year of a foreign worker's employment and not upon initial entry into Malaysia.

“However, even with the current practice, Fomema has detected numerous foreign workers with communicable diseases. Those cases were reported to the relevant authorities and subsequently the foreign workers were sent home.

“Strict examinations of all foreign workers and proper health records has significantly helped in preventing the outbreak of these diseases,” said Abdul Aziz.

He was confident that the public would welcome the NIOS as it would allow them to download registration forms online and check the status of medical examinations as well.

“With these services in place, we hope more employers will take the opportunity and initiative to register their workers for medical examinations directly, thus reducing dependence on a third party to do so on their behalf. This will lead to even greater savings for employers, and hopefully encourage them to be more vigilant as far as medical examinations are concerned,” he added. – AHMAD ZUBER IBRAHIM