KL tightens labor terms

KL tightens labor terms

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Foreigners wishing to work in Malaysia
will have to undergo medical tests in their home countries by
Kuala Lumpur-sanctioned doctors, a report said yesterday after a
study showed many alien workers carried contagious diseases.

"We want to take stringent measures to ensure that foreigners
working here are healthy, as we do not want them to spread any
communicable diseases to our people," Health Minister Lee Kim Sai
was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times daily.

The new health ruling for foreign workers was decided on
Thursday by a cabinet panel on foreign labor headed by deputy
premier Anwar Ibrahim.

The panel sought detailed reports from the relevant
authorities on the implication of the estimated one million
foreign workers on Malaysia's security and the health and social
sectors.

Lee said prospective foreign workers would have to undergo X-
ray, blood and urine tests and should be free of tuberculosis,
AIDS, malaria and leprosy.