End monopoly on worker health screening call

SANDAKAN: Sandakan Indian Association (SIA) president Taren Sunil Manoharan has urged the new Sabah Government to stop the monopoly by a single company on matters and procedures relating to foreign workers' health checks.

“I appeal to our State Government to review this totally unfair practice of letting a single company handle all workers' health screening matters in Sabah,” said Taren.

He revealed that quite a number of medical practitioners and X-ray centre operators have expressed their dissatisfaction to him on the matter.

“This practice is not only unhealthy but also causes the cost of employing workers, especially foreign workers, to remain high. We all know that there is a severe shortage of workers in Sabah, especially in the plantation sector, and I believe that the monopoly by a single company on workers health screening is one of the reasons for the situation,” he said.

“Doctors and X-ray centres are the ones doing most of the actual work on health checks but they are being charged very high by the company that holds the monopoly for reviewing the results of the blood tests and X-rays. As a result employers are suffering from the high cost of legalizing their workers and the workers themselves are also directly affected,” he maintained.

“We still need foreign workers and it is only fair to ease the burden of hiring them. To boost the economy we need to bring down the cost of running a business,” he emphasized.

Taren also asked why a single company has been given so much control over this issue for so many years in the state.

“The Sabah government must seriously look into this matter. The monopoly must go and all new companies given the task must be fair in charging their fees. I am of the opinion that a little competition among them will help bring down the charges to a more realistic level,” he concluded.