Government sick of unpaid bills amounting to RM3.5mil in three months

Star: PETALING JAYA: RM3.55mil – that’s the amount in bills foreign workers left unpaid in government hospitals in the first three months of this year.
And Deputy Health Minister Datuk Rosnah Rashid Shirlin is not amused. She wants employers who do not pay their foreign workers’ medical bills to be hauled up.
“We are concerned about the figures. It is a huge amount for such a short period,” she said yesterday after attending Pharmaniaga Bhd’s third Vendors Excellence Awards ceremony here.
“A paper is being prepared together with the Human Resources Ministry to make it compulsory for employers to have medical insurance for their workers, given the rampant occurrence of unpaid bills.”
Rosnah said steps would also be taken to require employers to make advance payment and stand guarantee for foreign workers seeking treatment.
Foreign patients had settled some RM916,150 in debts so far, while Malaysians still owed RM4.8mil to government hospitals.
Earlier, Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, in his speech read out by Rosnah, urged pharmaceutical vendors to enhance their delivery service and ensure their products were of good quality and delivered on time in the right quantity.
“Late delivery, product call backs and complaints on product quality are still a bane although the supply system has been implemented for 14 years,” Liow said in his speech.
On the Manek Urai by-election, Rosnah, who is also Puteri Umno chief, said doctors would be on call at the Barisan Nasional command centre and also make home visits.