Thais mandate migrant worker health checks
On the road to legal employment in Thailand, Cambodian migrant workers are being made to undergo check-ups that have them cough, strip and give blood and urine samples to prove they are physically and mentally sound enough to work in the country. Obtaining a workers’ permit, Thailand’s junta has announced, is contingent upon passing compulsory, 500-baht ($15) health screenings and buying 1,600-baht insurance. The health stipulations aren’t new – in fact, the rates are reduced – but the efforts to strictly enforce them have taken on a novel fervour since the military government announced its social reforms to stymie rampant trafficking and abuse of foreign labourers. Yesterday, Thailand’s 22 newly launched “one-stop service centres” began registering fleets of foreign workers, the acceptance of each applicant incumbent on background checks, medical screenings and permit requests, each step processed in the same paperwork- and labourer-swamped office. …
Laignee Barron
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/thais-mandate-migrant-worker-health-checks
