Thirteen NGOs have come together to flay the Health Ministry for introducing a new hospital fees schedule for foreign workers and refugees that they say “jeopardises their healthcare and inevitably risks the spread of diseases in Malaysia”.

Citing a recent case where a two-year-old Rohingya baby was refused treatment by a Terengganu hospital because the parents could not pay the deposit, they said the new fees schedule had to be condemned.

“It is a huge sum of money for foreign workers and refugees and it has already resulted in serious injustices.

“In the above case, doctors referred the baby to the general hospital in Terengganu for specialist care, but admission was denied because the parents could not pay the deposit required.

“The parents have taken the child back home,” the NGOs said in a joint statement issued yesterday.

The new fee structure was released by the Health Ministry on Dec 29, through a circular that directed all state health directors, hospital directors and district health officers to implement it from Jan 1.

It specifies that “deposit for foreigners requiring admission to the third class ward in government hospitals be RM600 for medical cases and RM1,200 for surgical and obstetric cases”.

‘This will cause diseases to spread’

The NGOs said the high cost would result in foreign workers resorting to self-medication, which in turn could result in the spread of diseases harmful to all Malaysians.

“The delay in the diagnosis and proper treatment of foreign workers and refugees will lead to the transmission of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, typhoid, dengue and a whole host of others to the local population,” the statement says.

The NGOs said despite the Health Ministry having declared that 'infectious illnesses are exempted from the new fee requirement', it would be difficult to identify such illnesses as the initial diagnosis itself would be avoided due to the high costs.

The NGOs also wanted to know if Health Minister Dr S Subramaniam ( right ), as well as the cabinet, were aware of this new fee schedule that was sullying the country’s image internationally.

“So many of the doctors serving as directors in the Health Ministry hold public health degrees and even PhDs.

"Did they agree with this fee policy that is modelled more along the lines of an 'Ah Long' debt-collecting outfit, rather than on any principle of public health? Or were they not even consulted?

Was Foreign Ministry consulted?

“We would like to ask the minister of health whether he approved this new fee policy. Was it discussed with the Malaysian Foreign Ministry? Does the cabinet know about it?” the 13 NGOs further asked.

These NGOs are Aliran, the Coalition Against the Privatisation of Health Care, Jerit, the Kuala Lumpur Hokkien Association (Youth Section), the Kuala Lumpur-Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall, the Malaysian Trades Union Congress, Paper Products Employees Union, Parti Rakyat Malaysia, Parti Sosialis Malaysia. the Penang Stop Human Trafficking Campaign, Persatuan Komuniti Prihatin Selangor, Persatuan Sahabat Wanita, Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia and Suaram.