Doubts over health screening of foreigners

NST: KOTA KINABALU: Health Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek said yesterday there were discrepancies in the health screening of foreign workers in Sabah.
His suspicion was based on statistics which showed there were 50 per cent fewer workers getting health check-ups this year compared with last year.
"Based on our monitoring, there were 52,000 foreign workers screened by Fomema from January to April last year," he said. During the same period this year, only 26,000 were screened.
"Why was there such a drastic reduction, especially since policies and procedures for foreign workers have not changed at all?"
Dr Chua said they were worried about the huge discrepancy as it could mean that there were recruitment agencies bringing in foreigners without undergoing the stipulated health checks.
"This is dangerous because from our experience, about 6.8 per cent of foreign workers are deemed unfit to work, sometimes carrying infectious diseases like Hepatitis B.
"This could easily spread and endanger the people."
Speaking at the annual state MCA assembly here, he said: "I'm not playing the blame game. I just know that there are leakages somewhere, but I do not know where."