Media Statement – 20/1/2011

Employers must pay all medical cost of workers especially when it is a work-
related accident or an occupational disease.

We, the undersigned 58 organizations, groups and networks are appalled that the
Malaysian Government is now asking about 1.5 million migrant workers themselves,
and not their employers, to buy a new Foreign Workers Hospitalisation and Surgical
Insurance. If these migrant workers do not do so, the Malaysian government is
threatening not to renew their work permits. The Malaysian Health Minister, Datuk
Seri Liow Tiong Lai, also stated that the worker’s work permits will not be renewed if
there are outstanding hospital bills. [Bernama, 7/1/2011, Foreign Workers with Insurance May
Enter Hospital without Deposit]

What is worrying is that workers should never be required to pay for their treatment
and necessary healthcare especially if the reason treatment is sought is a work-
related or industrial accident, or some occupation-related disease.

With regard to migrant workers in Malaysia, who are required to get a clean bill of
health before they enter Malaysia, and before they are given a work permit, it is only
right for employers to be liable to pay for all treatment and medical charges if they do
get sick in Malaysia. Further, it is generally the employer that determines where
these workers must stay and work.

In Malaysia, whilst the social security of local workers are covered by the Social
Security Act, migrant workers are covered by the lesser Workmen’s Compensation
Act 1952, which unlike the former do not provide for continuous regular support and
assistance until death for a worker who is a victim of an industrial accident or
occupational disease. The Workmen’s Compensation Act, on the other hand, only
provides for a one-off payment to the victim and/or their dependents where death
has resulted from the injury/disease, that is a lump sum equal to sixty months'
earnings or RM18,000, whichever is the less.

It is good that the Workmen's Compensation (Foreign Workers' Compensation

Scheme) (Insurance) Order 1998, extended coverage to personal injury (and death)
that is sustained in an accident which occurs outside the working hours of the
workman. Given this fact, there only needs to be a minimum extension of coverage
to cover any remaining matters that will require treatment, hospitalization and/or
surgery, and this could be done quite easily by amending the relevant Act and/or
broadening the scope of the current insurance that employers already do have to
buy for their foreign workers.

Malaysian Health Minister, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, was reported saying that this
new insurance was to ensure that foreign workers’ medical bills in public hospitals,
which to date total RM18mil, will not be a burden to the Government. (Star, 26/11/2010,
Compulsory medical insurance policies for foreign workers from next year). However, this cannot
be right as there should not be any outstanding migrant worker medical bills at all.
Under the Workmen’s Compensation Act, the employer is clearly liable to pay for the
conveyance to the hospital, treatment, ward charges, medicines and other expenses
incurred in the treatment and rehabilitation of such workmen (sec.15). The employer
is clearly liable to pay directly to the management of such hospital all fees and
charges, and as such one wonders what unpaid medical bills the Minister is talking.

Further, attention also should be drawn to Workmen's Compensation Regulations

1953, in particular Regulation 18, which deals with the issue of excess fees, “A
workman admitted either to an approved or a special hospital shall, where such
hospital is a private hospital, himself be liable to pay the amounts of any fees or
costs incurred on his behalf in excess of the maximum amounts prescribed by the
Minister of Health under section 15 (3) of the Act, and, where such hospital is a
government hospital, such excess amounts shall be paid from public funds.” Since,
the Minister is talking about government hospitals, there is certainly no way that
there exist outstanding medical bills when it comes to migrant workers.

The Malaysian pro-employer government has proceeded to further protect

employers of migrant workers by limiting the maximum amount fees and cost that is
payable by an employer under the Workmen’s Compensation Act. As of 1 st March
2007 (PU (A) 077/2007), this maximum liability of an employer for ward charges,
including surgical ward treatment fee is RM300, for operation fees it is RM250, for X-
Ray Fees it is RM100 and for other electric therapeutic charges it is RM100.

The rates stipulated are outrageously low given the fact that government hospitals
and clinics charge migrant workers first class rates, and the lowest deposit for a
migrant worker who needs to be warded is RM400, and if it was a surgical case, it is
RM800-00. Operation charges can range from RM50 to RM3,000 depending on the
type of operation. Ultrasound cost RM100. Radiology charges range from RM50-
RM600. Lab charges range from RM5 to RM100 depending on the type of tests, and
usually there will be quite a lot of tests needed.

But, even when the government does limit the amount that the employer is liable to
pay, the excess as stipulated in Regulation 18 of the Workmen's Compensation
Regulations 1953 is paid from public funds, and as such there really is no logical
reason why there can ever be outstanding debt. It is really hoped that in Malaysia,
the government does not expect the migrant worker to come up with the money
themselves before the necessary treatment and/or surgery is done. Employers
should make all the necessary payments immediately, and should thereafter do the
needful to claim whatever excess payment from the public fund.

The Health Minister is naïve to insist that the migrant worker only need to provide
their passport before treatment is given, as in most cases the employers and/or the
agent do wrongly hold on to the passports of migrant workers. Sometimes, the
passports are with immigration authorities and/or some other authorities. Hence, in
the name of justice, all necessary treatment must be immediately provided to migrant
workers on their arrival and registration, without insistence on the production of
passport and/or payment of any large deposit. Let not the absence of a document
and money be the cause of death or the loss of limbs of a migrant worker in
Malaysia.

It is also very wrong to threaten to penalize the migrant worker with non-renewal of
work permit, when any punishments in law should rightly be against the employer
and should not in any way jeopardize the rights and the well being of migrant
workers already in Malaysia.

We, the undersigned groups, hereby:-

a) Call on the Malaysian Government to ensure that all employers of migrant

workers, not just those that employ domestic workers and in the plantation sector, be
liable to pay for this new Foreign Workers Hospitalisation and Surgical Insurance;

b) Call on the Malaysian government to ensure that no worker would be made liable
to pay for the conveyance to hospital, treatment, ward charges, medicines and other
expenses following a work-related accident and/or for some occupational disease.

c) Call on the Malaysian government to repeal Maximum Amounts for Fees and
Costs (PU (A) 077/2007), and ensure that employers of migrant workers be liable to
pay reasonable amounts consistent with the rates imposed by the government for
medical care and treatment of migrant workers at government hospitals.

d) Urge the Malaysian government to review and remove the differential rates being
charged for Malaysians and other foreigners, especially migrant workers, at
government hospitals and healthcare facilities.

e) Urge the Malaysian government to review the policy of ‘No Treatment until
Production of Passport and payment of deposits”, and ensure that all who needs
medical treatment and care are immediately given the said required care that
will prevent loss of life and/or limbs.

Charles Hector
Pranom Somwong

For and on behalf of the following 58 organizations

Aliran
Archdiocesan Human Development Commission (AHDC)
Asia Pacific Forum on Women , law and Development ( APWLD )
Asian Migrant Centre(AMC)
Asian Migrants Coordinating Body in HK (AMCB)
Association for Community Development-ACD, Bangladesh
Association of Indonesian Migrant Workers in HK (ATKI-HK)
Building and Wood Workers’ International Asia Pacific Regional Office (BWI-APRO)
Burma Campaign Malaysia
Cambodian Defenders Project (CDP), Cambodia

Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (ADHOC)

Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO)
CCC Netherlands
Center for Orang Asli Concerns (COAC), Malaysia
Civil Right committee, Kuala Lumpur & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall
Committee of Asian Women, CAW
Democratic Party for New Society (DPNS), Burma
Health Equity Initiatives
Hsinchu Catholic Diocese Migrants and Immigrants Service Center (HMISC), Taiwan
IMA Research Foundation, Bangladesh

INFID, Indonesia
Johor Textile and Garment Workers Union
Judicial System Monitoring Program (JSMP), Timor Leste
Labour Behind the Label, United Kingdom
Lawyers for Human Rights & Legal Aid, Pakistan
Legal Support for Children and Women(LSCW), Cambodia
MADPET - Malaysians against Death Penalty and Torture
Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC)
Manggagawang Kababaihan Mithi ay Paglaya (MAKALAYA), Philippines
MAP Foundation, Thailand

Mekong Migration Network (MMN)

Metal Industry Employees’ Union, Malaysia
Migrant Care, Indonesia
Migrant Health Association, Korea
Migrante International
Migrants Rights Council, India,
Myanmar Youth Knowledge Initiative
Network of Action for Migrants in Malaysia (NAMM)
NGOs in Myanmar Web Portal
PACOS Trust

Penang Office for Human Development (POHD)

Persatuan Kesedaran Komuniti Selangor (Empower)
Persatuan Masyarakat Selangor & Wilayah Persekutuan (PERMAS)
Pusat Komas
Sarawak Dayak Iban Assocoation
Solidaritas Perempuan (Women's Solidarity for Human Rights), Indonesia
Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM), Malaysia
Thai Committee for Refugees (TCR)
Think Centre, Singapore
Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2), Singapore

UNI Global Union-Malaysia

United Indonesians Against Overcharging (PILAR)
Verite Southeast Asia
Vietnam Committee on Human Rights, France
WARBE Development Foundation-Bangladesh
WIRDA (Women Institute for Research Development and Advancement)
Women's Legal and Human Rights Bureau, Inc. (WLB), Philippines
Workers Hub for Change (WH4C)

For further information, please contact Charles Hector (chef@tm.net.my or

easytocall@yahoo.com ) or Pranom Somwong (Bee) (p_somwong@yahoo.com) at
019-2371 300.