KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 20 — Several business associations, including restaurant operators, are protesting against Fomema Sdn Bhd (Fomema)’s move to increase the fee rate and the frequency of medical examinations for foreign workers as the decisions were made without any discussion 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) in a joint statement said that the associations only knew about the increase in health fees annually for employees when visiting the Fomema website.

"The question is what is the rationalisation behind the decision? The business associations are disappointed because until now there was no official announcement from the relevant government authorities regarding the increase made by Fomema which has been effective since Dec 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 for Fomema medical examinations for foreign workers,” according to the statement.

Accordingly, the business 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,” according to the statement.

In the same statement, it was also explained that the foreign worker medical examination fee charged by Fomema is RM190 for men and RM207 for female foreign workers, covering screening for HIV, Hepatitis B, syphilis and pregnancy, including 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, namely filariasis (ringworm), Hepatitis C and methamphetamine.

"We understand that countries such as the United Arab Emirates and Singapore that 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 that the employer can keep it for reference. Currently, Fomema does not provide copies of test reports either to employees or employers,” according to the statement. — Bernama