FOREIGN NATIONALS OWE OVER SOME US$847,549 IN HOSPITAL BILLS

PETALING JAYA (Malaysia), June 29 (Bernama) -- Foreign nationals owed more
than RM3 million (US$ 847,549) in government hospital bills in the first three
months of this year.

Deputy Health Minister Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin said to prevent the
problem from recurring, her ministry was discussing with the Human Resource
Ministry on making it compulsory for employers to provide health insurance
coverage for each of their foreign workers.

"A working paper on this proposal is being scrutinised by both ministries
before it is presented to the Cabinet for approval," she said after presenting
the Excellent Vendor Award to integrated healthcare company Pharmaniaga Bhd,
here, Monday.

Rosnah said: "We do not have a fixed time frame but we hope to implement the
proposal soon in view of the huge amount of unpaid hospital bills. We need
effective measures to ensure the bills are settled by the foreign nationals."

However, she added, the ministry was making efforts to trace these
foreigners, some of whom might have sought treatment from the government
hospitals on their own.

Rosnah said to check the problem, the ministry was asking the hospitals to
ensure that foreign workers seeking treatment pay a higher deposit than that
imposed on locals, and to present a guarantee letter from their employer for
payment of the hospital bill incurred by them.

She said the foreign workers would also be required to fill a form with
details such as their employer's name and address as another precautionary
measure.

Rosnah said this year, hospitals under the Health Ministry were allocated
RM756.4 million (US$1=RM3.50) to purchase medicines compared with RM677.3
million last year.

She said the bigger allocation required was due to the population increase
and the economic downturn, forcing more people to seek treatment from government
hospitals.

-- BERNAMA