Vetting process compulsory for foreign workers

The Human Resources Ministry will be working closely with the Home Ministry and other relevant ministries on the inflow of foreign workers into the country, said its minister Datuk Richard Riot (pic).

He said foreign workers were required to undergo vetting process on health status in particular, and that it will be take into effect immediately.

"We do not want our country to be flooded with foreign workers with health problems and criminal records. Therefore, we will vet each and every foreign worker before they can be allowed to work in our country," he told Bernama after presenting certificates to graduates of Industrial Training Institute (ITI) here Sunday.

Riot said the Malaysian government has decided to have close cooperation through government-to-government (G-to-G) programmes towards ensuring foreign citizens to be hired are free from the two records.

He said his ministry and Home Ministry's officials had gone to Bangladesh for the purpose.

"We cannot afford to have foreign workers with contagious diseases and criminal records and I do want to mention those with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)," he said.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam was reported to have said overcrowding of foreign workers was among the causes of tuberculosis (TB) being detected in the country.

The disease has risen to 18,000 cases in 2010 from 16,000 cases in 2008.

In 2011, there were 20,000 cases reported with 1,600 fatalities, and about 13 per cent of the TB patients were foreign workers.

Subramaniam said any foreign worker wishing to work here had to undergo two health screenings, one in the country of origin and one in Malaysia, and stressed workers who passed the screening in their country of origin but failed the test here will be repatriated.