KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 8 — FGV Holdings Bhd (FGV) has provided a health facility allocation of RM5.6 million per year for its 28,000 migrant workers to fulfill its commitment in ensuring all employees working on its plantations have access to health rights.

Group plantation sector chief operating officer Syed Mahdhar Syed Hussain said the allocation allowed FGV migrant workers to seek outpatient treatment and undergo health check-ups at nearby clinics.

"FGV also bears the medical and treatment costs for employees who needs long-term treatment in the hospital either as a result of accidents inside and outside of the workplace or for other chronic and non-chronic diseases,” he said in a statement.

 Syed Mahdhar said in order to provide faster access to health services, especially in rural areas, FGV has taken proactive steps to build clinics on its operating plantations under the guidance of the Ministry of Health Malaysia.

To date, he said RM350,000 has been allocated to build five clinics on plantations in Aring (Kelantan), Selendang 3, Lepar Utara 11 and Kechau 2 (all Pahang), and Sahabat 36 (Sabah) where access to nearby health facilities is limited.

Syed Mahdhar said every migrant worker in FGV’s plantations also received full protection under the Employees’ Social Security Act of the Social Security Organisation (Socso), especially for claims of injury.

In addition to fulfilling the employer’s obligations in compliance with the law, he said Socso’s contribution enabled the plantation workers to take advantage of various emergency treatment facilities and compensation in the event of an accident at work.

He said FGV also bears the cost of flight tickets to send migrant workers back to their home countries if the workers would like to seek further treatment there.

"In the event of death or loss of life in service, FGV bears the cost of repatriating the body of the employee to the country of origin.

"As an initiative to facilitate migrant workers to undergo health screening examinations, FGV is currently in talks with private medical practitioners with joint membership of the Foreign Workers Medical Examination Monitoring Agency (Fomema) to establish screening facilities at the FGV One-Stop Centre (FGV OSC),” he said.

All applications with Fomema would be handled by the medical practitioner, he said, adding that with this facility, all arrangements related to Fomema for new employees, as well as contract extensions could be carried out in an orderly manner while reducing transportation costs to the health screening venue. — Bernama