On 28 January 2010, Mr. Singhadet Chu-Amnart, Minister Counsellor (Labour) welcomed Committee of Office of the Crown Prince Hospital Foundation headed by Mr. Chodok Virathampoonsawad, the committee of the foundation, and 42 central and provincial officers from 21 hospitals to visit Malaysia and paid courtesy visit call on Ambassador at Kuala Lumpur.
On this occasion, Minister Counsellor (Labour) summarized the situation of labours in Kuala Lumpur and the problems of Thai workers working and residing in Malaysia as well as the problems of Thai workers’ health and medical treatment. He stated that Thai workers who work legally will receive accident insurance and capable of exercising the rights to seek medical treatment as specified in Malaysian Labour Law. In fact, most Thai workers entry into Malaysia illegally and work without work permit. Hence, they could not receive medical treatment at Malaysian hospitals so they had to buy drugs from pharmacy or went back to Thailand to receive medical care. In the past, Ministry of Foreign Affairs allocated budget so called “Foreign Mission Integrated Programmer : FMIP” and assigned MOL by Department of Employment to send officers and group of physicians to provide medical treatment and give an advice on health problems as well as dispense medicines to Thai workers. This could help and alleviate health problems of Thai workers. However, in fiscal year 2010, the said budget has any longer been allocated for similar project.
In this regard, Mr. Chodok Virathampoonsawad informed that the committee was pleased to support solving health problem of Thai workers in foreign countries and would continually push forward the budget allocation in terms of FMIP. Additionally, they would coordinate with relevant authorities to further raise Thai workers in foreign countries.
