Flare up in TB cases blamed on illegals

Fomema denies that they have been negligent in screening foreign workers for TB but blamed illegal workers as the culprits for spreading the disease here

KUALA LUMPUR: The Foreign Workers Medical Examination Monitoring Agency (Fomema) today denied that the spread of tuberculosis (TB) was due to improper health screening on foreign workers.

The agency which is responsible for conducting medical screening on foreign workers instead blamed the number of illegal workers in the country for the rising cases of the infectious disease.

Its chairman Suleiman Mahmud said that all foreign workers who come to Fomema must first go through medical screenings.

“But we do not know about the illegals because they do not come to us. We do not know the numbers and where they come from,” he told reporters in a press conference today.

TB is fast rising in the country and is the highest cause of death among all infectious diseases, even surpassing the death rate due to dengue.

The increase of foreigners was said to be one of the contributing factors for the rise of the disease.

Fomema chief executive officer Mohd Hatar Ismail affirmed this, saying that the increased percentage of locals contracting the disease was in parallel to the increase of foreign workers.

Mohd Hatar said Fomema’s latest statistics of 2013, showed that 16,751 foreign workers suffer from TB.

Out of 1.27 million foreign workers screened, 3 to 3.5% failed the second screening test for TB and other diseases.

All foreign workers who wish to work here must undergo two health screenings, one in their country of origin and the other over here.

Those who fail the test here will be repatriated even though they passed the test in their own country.

Indonesians made the bulk of those found with various diseases as they are the majority of foreign workers here, said Mohd Hatar.

In explaining about TB, he said that it was an exceptionally dangerous disease as it is airborne.

“It is not spread through touch. So if someone coughs in a bus, others can catch the disease too,” said Mohd Hatar, adding that a single person has the potential to spread the disease up to 25 other people surrounding him.

He  advised employers to send their workers back to the country of origin if they have contracted TB.

“Last year, a factory worker did not pass the screening, and while the employer was about to appeal, he died.

“Later we found out that 26 of his friends caught the disease too,” he said.

He added those who have TB should be sent home so that the locals would not contract the disease as well.

“Just send them home as their productivity will also decrease. Employers should also send their workers for voluntary screening after they are back from visiting their country of origin,” he said.

He also further explained that a person suffering from active TB can be identified via an x-ray. Nevertheless those had TB before still have potential to spread the disease.