Wait no more to test foreign staff

The foreign workers waiting to get tested for Covid-19 at a clinic in Bayan Baru. - ZAINUDIN AHAD/The Star/ 18 Dec 2021

FACTORIES and companies have been urged not to delay in sending their foreign workers for Covid-19 screening as required by the Federal Government to contain the spread of the pandemic.

The Penang Medical Practitioners Society (PMPS) president Dr Parmjit Singh said the onus was on the owners and management teams to send their foreign workers for test because panel clinics were not in any capacity to call them up.

“We hope they can come forward themselves.

“So far, over 30,000 foreign workers have been tested across 76 panel clinics in Penang as of Monday.

“Right now, we conduct a maximum of 3,000 Covid-19 screenings daily across the state.

“We need more factories and companies with foreign workers to contact the panel clinics for Covid-19 tests.

“All the 76 panel clinics in Penang are able to conduct the screening. We never restrict anyone from doing the tests, ”

he said when met at a clinic in Bayan Baru on Monday.

Dr Parmjit said foreign workers who contribute to the Social Security Organisation (Socso) could get their tests done at the Socso panel clinics.

“Socso has prepared Rapid Antigen Test Kits (RTK-Ag) for the participating clinics, ” added Dr Parmjit.

Meanwhile, Penang local government committee chairman Jagdeep Singh Deo said over 30,000 out of 140,450 foreign workers had been tested in the state so far.

In late November last year, Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced the mandatory Covid-19 screening of 1.7 million foreign workers starting Jan 1,2021, in view of the high number of cases involving the group.