PETALING JAYA: Fomema Sdn Bhd and the Health Ministry have increased the rates and frequency of the foreign worker's medical examination requirement without consultation with stakeholders, says the Malaysian Manufacturers Federation (FMM).
FMM, in a statement on Monday (Jan 22), said that a Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) should have been conducted before the increase in rates and frequency requirement was announced.
FMM said the announcement of the changes, which was published on Fomema's website and social media accounts, was made a day before it came into force.
"Manufacturers will now incur about RM124.2mil annually in medical check-ups for about 600,000 foreign workers in the sector as a result of the immediate 14% to 15% increase in fees," it said.
It said the annual requirement would now increase the medical check-up for a foreign worker who had been in the country for 10 years by another four times, equalling RM500mil in additional cost for the sector.
"The industry wants to understand the rationale and justification for the expansion of the list of tests required for foreign workers resulting in the hike in rates as well as the increase in the frequency of the medical examination compared to the annual one,” said FMM.
The federation also questioned the need for a third-party service provider.
"In this regard, we call on the authorities to suspend the increase and immediately convene a stakeholder engagement and review the relevance of having a third-party service provider," added FMM.
