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.