Daily Express Subscriber
Sign in to your account.

Kota Kinabalu: Fomema, the agency for monitoring health of foreign workers, has suspended the services of 20 clinics and eight X-ray centres registered with it in Sabah for failing to comply with its Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Yahya Hussin said the clinics and X-ray centres were among 87 clinics and 37 X-ray centres nationwide registered with Fomema that were suspended, up to June this year, for flouting the SOP.

"Based on inspections and surprise checks carried out by Fomema, the clinics and X-ray centres had failed to comply with critical aspects of the SOP," he said when launching a Blood Donation Campaign and Hepatitis B Test, organised by Fomema, at KK Plaza, here, Sunday.

The SOP was introduced by Fomema in May last year to enhance the integrity of its monitoring system and supervision of medical check-ups on foreign workers.

Fomema is a private agency given the sole concession by the Government in 1997 to conduct medical check-ups on foreign workers.

According to Yahya, who is also Community Development and Consumer Affairs Minister, the SOP system is capable of detecting any discrepancies on the independent reports submitted by Fomema's panel clinics and X-ray centres.

He said the Government welcomed the introduction of the SOP by Fomema as it helped to strengthen its surveillance and monitoring of medical check-ups on foreign workers.

"With the increase in inspections and visits to the clinics, laboratories and X-ray centres that are registered with Fomema, it would be able to ascertain if they fulfil the SOP," he said.

Previously, medical check-ups on foreign workers were conducted by clinics selected by the employers.

However, the practice was abolished after many clinics providing such services were found to be dishonest.

On other developments, Yahya said Fomema had taken the initiative to form an X-ray quality centre entrusted with the responsibility to audit each X-ray film carried out on foreign workers.

He said the Malaysia Health Ministry had approved the move, which requires X-ray centres to get a quality certification from Fomema in order to have their licences renewed.