KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 11 ― Employers should be wary of non-healthcare private companies and middlemen offering Covid-19 screening services, said the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA).

MMA president Prof Datuk Dr Subramaniam Muniandy said these private businesses had targeted struggling general practitioners (GPs) and attempted to squeeze them for the lowest professional fees possible in order to earn a bigger cut from the employers.

"MMA is deeply concerned that if professional fees are not charged as per the work done it may not cover the costs of screening and this may lead to the quality of care being compromised.

"In fact, it costs less for employers to directly discuss the professional fees with the GPs as there will be no middlemen fee included,” he said in a statement here today.

He said that under the Social Security Organisation (Socso) Covid-19 mandatory screening programme for foreign workers, the RTK Antigen kits were provided at no charge to the participating GPs and only the professional fees were charged to employers.

There are currently 626 clinics on Socso's panel to conduct the screening of foreign workers and the full list is available on its website.

"We wish to remind the public that the RTK Antigen swab tests can only be performed by trained healthcare professionals and under strict infectious disease prevention guidelines by the Ministry of Health. 

"MMA warns that a person may be at serious risk of injury, health issues or a false negative result if the swab tests are performed incorrectly,” he said.― Bernama