Johor civil servants to undergo drug tests

Civil servants in Johor will have to undergo a urine test to ensure they are free from drug abuse, a move by the state government to raise the quality of public service.

State Health and Environment Committee chairman, Datuk Ayub Rahmat said the exercise, scheduled to be implemented early next year, will involve 20,000 civil servants, once approved by the state government.

"We are still preparing the working paper to be submitted to Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin. We hope to conduct the screening early next year," he told reporters after launching the Malaysian Drug Prevention Association (Pemadam) here today.

He said the committee had proposed that the screening be conducted over the next five years to cover the 20,000 civil servants in the state.

"The effort is aimed at making state civil servants a model to the community. We cannot be only telling people to stay away from drugs while we ourselves are involved," he said.

Ayub said if civil servants were tested positive for drugs, they would be sent for treatment and counselling sessions apart from attending the Cure and Care Clinics in each district.

The measure is to prevent drug addiction among civil servants in the government's effort to encourage a healthy lifestyle.

The exercise will be conducted by Pemadam, the National Anti-Drug Agency as well as the State Health Department, he said.