Many people may think that imposing full medical charges on foreigners would have little or no effect on Malaysians.

However, dismissing it as such would be nothing short of being foolish.

This is because low-income foreign workers would resort to avoiding treatment for illnesses and adopt self-medication means instead.

And as a result, all their health problems would exacerbate their medical condition.

Therefore, health risks that confront Malaysians will increase, especially in the case of infectious diseases.

Commenting on the new policy, co-founder and director of the Health Equity Initiatives, Sharuna Verghis, said full medical charges for foreigners would mean a 70 percent increase in medical fees in public health care facilities, which was 'very disturbing'.

“The new policy will severely restrict access to health care for non-citizens, especially the low wage earners,” said Sharuna, whose NGO is a refugee mental health charity organisation.

She also believes that the policy lacks fairness on a few grounds.

Among them, she pointed out, was that documented migrants also paid a significant amount of tax in the form of annual levies.

“As per universally-accepted principles of health financing, in such cases, they must also be able to access subsidised health care," Sharuna said.

No outpatient coverage

As for the mandatory health insurance that foreign workers are required to purchase, Sharuna said it would only cover hospital fees as well as surgical fees and not outpatient treatment costs.

“This exacerbates their problems of access to health care. The lack of access to health prevention and promotion also means that they will be unable to make informed decisions on their health needs, which puts their health, and the health of Malaysians too, at risk, especially for infectious diseases,” she added.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak in his Budget 2016 speech last Friday announced that the government will impose full medical charges on non-citizens come Jan 1, 2016.

Health insurance

Meanwhile, Coordination of Action Research on AIDS and Mobility (Caram) Asia regional coordinator Mohammad Harun Al Rashid questioned how foreign workers, with their small salaries, could pay for hospital bills if they were to be involved in accidents.

Harun also said all foreign workers must first be ensured of a proper health insurance.

“Without having the proper insurance, how are they going to pay when we impose full medical charges?

“If their health is jeopardised, is that going to help the country’s productivity?” asked Harun, whose NGO works on migration and health issues.

He also pointed out how foreign workers were already paying levies to the Immigration Department.

“So, how is the government going to justify this levy as a service for migrant workers?"

Harun suggested that the Finance Ministry considers the levy paid to immigration authorities to be part of the Health Ministry’s budget.

“There should be some money going from the levy to the Health Ministry to cover the costs.

“Currently, there is no budget for that. The Health Ministry needs to put forward some finances,” he said.

Malaysia is home to at least two million legal foreign workers, besides an estimated 2.2 million illegal foreign workers.

Most foreign workers are employed in blue-collar jobs in the agriculture, construction and manufacturing industries.