MTUC: Govt should review decision to appoint BP Healthcare Group as sole company allowed to carry Covid-19 tests
KUALA LUMPUR, May 11— The Malaysia Trade Union Congress (MTUC) today urged the government to review the appointment of BP Healthcare Group as the sole company to carry out Covid-19 tests on migrant workers in the country.
MTUC Secretary-General J. Solomon said BP only has 10 diagnostic labs to carry out the screenings which has created a bottleneck in the screening process.
BP Healthcare Group is the only healthcare provider authorised by the Social Security Organisation (Socso) to provide free Covid-19 tests for its members.
He said videos of the chaotic screening process have been posted in social media damaging the credibility of both Socso and the government.
“We do not see why more companies, including private hospitals, are not roped in to do Covid-19 screenings. Videos of migrant workers without face mask and in total disregard of social distancing were seen waiting in long lines outside BP labs in Klang Valley have gone viral, damaging the credibility of both Socso and the government.
“There are more than two million legal migrant workers in the country, with an estimated 800,000 of them in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur that have to depend on just 10 diagnostic BP labs to carry out the Covid-19 screenings. This is unacceptable.
“The government, especially the National Security Council and the Health Ministry must step in and review Socso’s entire process of checking migrant workers for Covid-19,” he said in a statement today.
Solomon also agreed with the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) statement yesterday that employers, employees and general practitioners (GPs) are seeing red over the flip flop on policies, with no clear-cut guidelines on the testing of workforce involved in businesses allowed to resume operations under the conditional movement control order (CMCO).
“MTUC has stressed that Socso funds, which are meant for the social protection of workers, should not be used to pay for Covid-19 screenings of employees, as it is clearly the employer’s responsibility to provide the service. It will be even more unfair to workers if Socso is paying BP (Healthcare Group) for a task the company does not have the capacity to undertake on its own,” he said.
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