Over 3,000 ‘medically unfit’ foreign labourers given work permits

AUDIT REPORT A federal audit on the Immigration Department’s foreign workers recruitment process has highlighted concerns over spreading of diseases due to weaknesses identified in the health screening system.

Out of a total 699,018 temporary employment passes issued in 2014, it was found that 3,527 were issued to workers who have been declared as medically unfit to work.

“The existing system allows the coordinating officer to override a worker’s ‘unfit’ status and allow the approval of their temporary employment pass,” said the Auditor-General’s Report 2015.

The report referred to the Immigration Department’s MyIMM information technology system that includes an online database of workers’ information.

In its response to the Audit Department, the Immigration Department said that there are differences in health screening procedures for workers in the peninsular, Sabah and Sarawak.

It also said that all work permits issued were based on an initial clearance by the Foreign Workers’ Medical Examination Monitoring Agency.

“Results of further tests will only be obtained and recorded in the MyIMM after a few months. The Immigration Department, however, is unable to revoke work permits which have been issued as it (new data) will not be detected unless a review is done,” it said.

It further said that any decision to approve a worker identified as being medically “unfit” to work was only done for isolated cases and based on approval from the Immigration Department’s appeal committee.

public accounts committee chairperson Hasan Ariffin in the Dewan Rakyat earlier today said that the Immigration Department was among three federal agencies to be probed as soon as possible, following findings of the audit report. -Mkini