Foreign workers in Negri yet to go for tests

SEREMBAN: The mandatory Covid-19 screening of foreign workers which was supposed to have started in Negri Sembilan has been delayed, says state Health Committee chairman S. Veerapan.

The exercise would start once the health authorities and the Social Security Organisation (Socso) come up with a set of guidelines on this, he said.

“I was told that the screening has yet to start as both parties are still finalising details,” he said yesterday.

The Labour Department and Socso are among the government agencies entrusted with the screening task.

A state Socso official when contacted confirmed there was a slight delay in the screening exercise.

“We’re in the process of doing it. It hasn’t started yet,” he said without elaborating.

The screenings were supposed to have been carried out at private clinics or at workplaces.

State Human Resources, Plantation and Non-Islamic Affairs committee chairman J. Arul Kumar also confirmed that the exercise had yet to commence.

Negri Sembilan was among the first states picked to do mandatory screening of foreign workers as there were several Covid-19 clusters involving them.

Earlier, checks at industrial areas in Senawang and Nilai showed it was business as usual as workers made their way to their workplace.

One company official who chose to remain anonymous said they had yet to send their workers for screening as the company did not receive the list of panel clinics.

He said the company took measures to keep its foreign workers safe by segregating them.

“We have rented more units to house these workers so they will be safer. It is better to segregate them for now,” he said.

An official at another plant with several hundred foreign workers on its payroll also said the screening exercise had not started.