NST Leader: Of syndicates and sick foreign workers

New Straits Times

12-05-2025

Syndicates are getting into new "businesses". One such is getting sick foreign workers to bypass medical checks by engaging stand-ins with fake passports.
Fearing the potential of the unfit workers spreading diseases in the country, doctors are beginning to speak up. We do not know how long this dangerous pursuit has been going on, but it is time that the authorities stepped up enforcement.
The most effective way to prevent sick foreign workers reaching our shores is to tackle the problem at the point of origin by placing the onus on the home country to send only fit workers. We can do this through a memorandum of understanding with the foreign governments.
Another effective way to keep Malaysia safe from sick foreign workers is for our embassies to appoint clinics in the source countries to ensure that workers go through medical exams before they are allowed to board the plane.
When they reach Malaysia, they must take another medical exam. Here the Foreign Workers Medical Examination Monitoring Agency (Fomema) has an important role.
It begins with the appointment of the right clinics for the job. The owners of the clinics and the doctors who work for them must be vetted thoroughly.
Private clinics run by errant doctors are not unheard of. Greed or threats from syndicates can thin the integrity of such medical professionals.
Take greed. When Covid-19 hit our shores, going places required MySejahtera digital vaccination certificates. With many clinics' business hit by lockdowns, some doctors decided to give integrity a pass.
One such was a Health Ministry approved clinic in Gombak, Selangor, that was alleged to have issued 5,600 people with digital vaccination certs without injecting even a single one of them.
They were charged RM500 for each cert. Earlier the clinic was reported to have charged RM3,000 but later reduced it to RM500, Berita Harian reported in January 2022.
The clinic might have continued its illegal service if not for its viral WhatsApp messages promoting its fraudulent trade. If this takes vaccine fraud to an unheard of level, consider what a doctor running a private clinic in Marang, Terengganu did.
He not only did not administer the vaccine but didn't issue them the MySejahtera cert. Instead, he issued them fake printed vaccination certs, allegedly for RM400 to RM600.
Police told the media then that he sold 1,900 fake certificates. Sadly, Selangor and Terengganu weren't the only states where errant doctors were running clinics; the disease was national.
Clinic audits are another, which Fomema is said to be stepping up. One way the agency is doing this is through its internal data management and verification systems. It also has in-house medical officers trained to be alert to inconsistencies.
As the doctors in the clinics have admitted to this newspaper, there are times when a few slip through. Checking the checkers is critical to ensure a secure and reliable screening process.
Finally, inter-agency coordination, especially between the Immigration Department and Fomema needs to be stepped up, too. Biometric fingerprint verification system at clinics is a must to ensure that only genuine passport holders make it to the medical exam.