Foreigners with TB: Whose responsibility is it?
By Woo Sian Boon, TODAY | Posted: 14 May 2012 0631 hrs
SINGAPORE: As the authorities seek to fend off a resurgence of tuberculosis (TB) here, non-government organisations (NGOs) have backed the medical fraternity's call for more comprehensive screening for foreigners.
The NGOs also proposed that the authorities rethink the repatriation policy for work permit applicants diagnosed with active TB.
Earlier in May, Today reported that two experts - Dr Cynthia Chee and Dr Wang Yee Tang, who are both from the TB Control Unit at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) - had called on the authorities not to underestimate these foreigners' "potential to spread TB to the community" even though they do not stay here for long.
They also argued that a repatriation policy "has not only potentially devastating consequences for the patient, but would also not serve the greater good of the global community, including our own".
The Ministry of Health (MOH) is currently reviewing its TB elimination programme.
Under the Manpower Ministry's work permit regime, foreign workers who are unable to pass a medical examination, which includes those who have been diagnosed with active pulmonary TB, will have to be repatriated.
For foreign workers already working here and are found to have TB, it is up to their employers whether they want to keep them here, Today understands.
Ms Debbie Fordyce, an exco member of Transient Workers Count Too, cited the case of a construction worker who was diagnosed with TB after working here for three months. While the worker began treatment, "he was often asked to work 24 hours at a stretch and was not able to visit the polyclinic during opening hours to collect the medicine", she said.
By Woo Sian Boon, TODAY | Posted: 14 May 2012 0631 hrs
SINGAPORE: As the authorities seek to fend off a resurgence of tuberculosis (TB) here, non-government organisations (NGOs) have backed the medical fraternity's call for more comprehensive screening for foreigners.
The NGOs also proposed that the authorities rethink the repatriation policy for work permit applicants diagnosed with active TB.
Earlier in May, Today reported that two experts - Dr Cynthia Chee and Dr Wang Yee Tang, who are both from the TB Control Unit at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) - had called on the authorities not to underestimate these foreigners' "potential to spread TB to the community" even though they do not stay here for long.
They also argued that a repatriation policy "has not only potentially devastating consequences for the patient, but would also not serve the greater good of the global community, including our own".
The Ministry of Health (MOH) is currently reviewing its TB elimination programme.
Under the Manpower Ministry's work permit regime, foreign workers who are unable to pass a medical examination, which includes those who have been diagnosed with active pulmonary TB, will have to be repatriated.
For foreign workers already working here and are found to have TB, it is up to their employers whether they want to keep them here, Today understands.
Ms Debbie Fordyce, an exco member of Transient Workers Count Too, cited the case of a construction worker who was diagnosed with TB after working here for three months. While the worker began treatment, "he was often asked to work 24 hours at a stretch and was not able to visit the polyclinic during opening hours to collect the medicine", she said.
