• Home

Medical tests for expats
in home countries soon

DUBAI — Implementing a system currently being followed by some GCC countries, expatriates here will also be required to undergo an extra set of medical fitness tests in their home countries before landing in the UAE for a job or residency.

They will undergo re-testing upon arrival, said a senior Ministry of Health official on Tuesday, adding that the system will be in place shortly.

An executive directive issued by the UAE Ministerial Council for Services on Sunday ordered the ministry to work out bylaws for the system.

Dr Mahmoud Fikri, Assistant Undersecretary for Health Policies, said, “The decision was taken after a noticeable increase in the number of infectious diseases among certain categories of workers from endemic countries.”

A senior official of the GCC Health Ministers Council confirmed that the UAE was expected to join the regional health testing system currently being followed by Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, adding that the UAE had thoroughly studied this project in Riyadh. Titled the “Expatriates Workforce Check-up Programme”, the system has been formulated by the GCC Health Ministers Council and registers over 200 pre-approved health centres in seven Asian countries.

The programme works in India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Nepal and covers over 1.5 million employees who come to the GCC countries each year to work.

The Executive Board regularly follows up and evaluates the working of these centres. “Besides fearing the arrival of any disease, some workers might not be able to fulfil the tasks assigned to them due to illness,” writes Dr Tawfik Al Khoja, Director-General, Executive Board of The Health Ministers’ Council for GCC States, on the website.

The centres operate under the Gulf Approved Medical Centres Association (GAMCA) that connects them through a computer programme that guarantees secrecy, security and fast data transfer.

The system is also connected with embassies and consulates of the GCC countries in those countries and cities.

Dr Fikri said health officials are planning visits to these centres soon to oversee the preparations.

About 21 per cent of the total Asian categories tested in 2009 had tuberculosis, he said. It was important to test expats in their countries and re-do the test in the UAE so as to minimise expenses incurred on a worker who arrives here with a disease and avoid spreading of the disease locally, he added.

Khaleej Times had first reported on the issue last year quoting a Dubai Health Authority (DHA) official who said that certificates will be issued only from approved centres in their home countries.

“We have seen cases where people have sold their entire property back home to come to the country and have not been able to work here because of ill health,” Dr Ali Marzouqi, Director of Health and Safety at the DHA, said in an earlier interview.

“It will be up to the employer to decide if he wants to hire an employee despite his medical condition,” he 
had said. Expatriates are being tested for infectious diseases such as HIV, pulmonary TB and leprosy. Only certain categories of workers are tested for Hepatitis 
and Syphilis.

asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com