More than 100 clinics suspended over medical exam of foreign workers

Star: Fomema has suspended more than 100 clinics on its panel since the start of this year under a nationwide clean-up exercise to curb irregularities in the examination of foreign workers.
These clinics had been found guilty of not maintaining a proper register of medical examinations, operating X-ray machines without a licence, submitting identical X-rays for more than one worker, and not keeping any records of specimens collected.
Fomena is an independent agency responsible for monitoring and coordinating the medical examination of foreign workers, a requirement for the renewal of work permits by the Immigration Department.
Fomema chief executive officer See Ah Sing said the clinics had been suspended for not complying with its standard operating procedures (SOP).
“We will continue to be vigilant against any malpractice by the clinics and will continue to check on them as part of our ongoing exercise to see that they abide by our SOP.
“Our inspectorate is checking more clinics and we will suspend any that do not meet our requirements,” he said yesterday.
Fomema was established in 1997.
There are more than 3,700 clinics registered with it and the Government can use it to access information on the health status of foreign workers nationwide.
See said Fomema had previously warned the errant clinics to take remedial measures.
“When they failed to address the problems, we had not option but to suspend them,” he said, adding that the status of these clinics would be reviewed.