KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 20 — Several business associations, including restaurant operators, are protesting against Fomema Sdn Bhd’s move to increase foreign workers’ fee rate and medical examinations’ frequency, as the decisions were made without discussing with stakeholders.
Malaysian Muslim Restaurant Owners’ Association (Presma), Malaysian Indian Restaurant Owners’ Association (Primas), Federation Of Malaysian Business Associations (FMBA) and Malaysian Indian Muslim Chamber Of Commerce And Industry (Mimcoin) said they only learned of the increased annual health fees for employees by visiting the Fomema website.
“The question is, what is the rationalisation behind the decision? The business associations are disappointed because until now, there has been no official announcement from the relevant government authorities regarding the increase made by Fomema, which has been effective since December 16 last year.
“Previously, foreign workers had to undergo a health check-up for up to three years continuously and did not need to do any health check-up for up to seven years. It was then changed to every alternate year, but now Fomema is changing it to every year.
“Fomema also unilaterally increased the fee by 10 to 14 per cent. With about two million foreign workers, employers have to bear the cost of about RM414 million a year in Fomema medical examinations for foreign workers,” they said in a joint statement yesterday.
Accordingly, the associations urge the relevant parties to hold a discussion or consultation first with the stakeholders before making any decisions or changes.
“We object to the decision and call on Fomema to maintain the fee and frequency of health checks for foreign workers as before,” they said.
The associations added the Fomema foreign worker medical examination fee is RM190 for men and RM207 for women, covering screening for HIV, Hepatitis B, syphilis, and pregnancy, as well as the use of opiates and cannabis.
“The fee was later increased to RM207 for men and RM217 for women and expanded to cover three new categories, including filariasis (ringworm), Hepatitis C, and methamphetamine.
“We understand that countries like the United Arab Emirates and Singapore, which have many foreign workers, do not have this practice; the health screening test in both countries is every two years. We would also like to call on Fomema to review this matter.
“A copy of the health test report should also be given to the employer so the employer can keep it for reference. Currently, Fomema does not provide copies of test reports either to employees or employers,” they said.
— Bernama
