Health DG says crowded living conditions need to be tackled immediately if Covid-19 is to be contained
KUALA LUMPUR | The issue of crowded and confined accommodations for foreign workers needs to be tackled immediately to ensure Covid-19 and other infectious diseases does not spiral out of control, said Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
He said this was in line with the Workers’ Minimum Standards of Housing and Amenities Act 1990 (Act 446).
“Seeing how the issue of Covid-19 infection among foreign workers has become an important matter that needs to be addressed, the Ministry of Health (MOH) urges employers to play a bigger role in jointly tackling it.
“As such, the MOH welcomes the enforcement action under Act 446 by the Human Resources Ministry on employers who fail to comply with the provisions of the Act,” he said in a post on his official Facebook page today.
He said there were several factors which contributed to the transmission of infectious diseases among workers, including places of accommodation, personal hygiene as well as the environment of the accommodation and workplaces.
He said the MOH always took a serious view of incidents regarding the rise in COVID-19 transmissions in workplaces as manpower, be it foreign or local, is a valuable asset for any company or organisation. – Bernama
