Frequently asked questions
[/text_box] [/ux_banner] [section mask=”angled-large” padding=”60px”] [row] [col span=”4″ span__sm=”12″] [/col] [col span__sm=”12″] [gap height=”90px”] [tabgroup type=”vertical” nav_style=”normal”] [tab title=”Alternate Years Additional Mandatory FOMEMA Medical Examination for Foreign Workers”] [accordion] [accordion-item title=”When the effective date of Alternate Years Additional Mandatory FOMEMA Medical Examinations?”]The Alternate Years Additional Mandatory FOMEMA Medical Examinations for Foreign Workers is effective starting 1st January 2018.
[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title=”What is Alternate Years Additional Mandatory FOMEMA Medical Examinations”]- Alternate Years Additional FOMEMA Medical Examinations is mandatory for Foreign Workers after the completion of the first three years compulsory FOMEMA Medical Examinations upon their arrival in Malaysia.
- After they completed the three compulsory FOMEMA Medical Examinations, Foreign Workers are required to undergo Alternate Years Additional Medical Examinations once in every two years which are on the 4th, 6th, 8th , 10th year of PLKS and continuously until the Foreign Workers went back to their country of origin.
Under normal circumstances, FOMEMA will be able to transmit the certification of the medical status to the Immigration Department Headquarters within 10 working days from the date of examination by the doctor of your workers. (Please take note that it is not from the date of registration with FOMEMA) .
[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title=”When the Foreign Workers are required to do the Alternate Year Additional Medical Examinations?”]The Foreign Workers are required to undergo FOMEMA alternate year additional medical examinations three (3) months BEFORE the expiry of the current PLKS which are (3 months before the expiry of 4th year PLKS, 6th year of PLKS, 8th year of PLKS, 10th year of PLKS and etc.
[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title=”What are the medical examination fees and format for Alternate Years Additional Mandatory Medical Examinations?”]FOMEMA Medical Examinations format, type of diseases screened and medical examination fees (Male & female) for Alternate Year Additional Medical Examinations is remain unchanged as per the first three years compulsory FOMEMA medical examinations upon arrival in Malaysia.
[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title=”Why the Alternate Years Medical Examinations is mandatory for Foreign Workers?”]Alternate Years FOMEMA Medical Examinations is mandatory for Foreign Workers in order to ensure their health is in a good condition throughout their employment in Malaysia. This program is one of the Government’s effort to curb the communicable diseases to spread at work place and to ensure the public safety is well taken care of.
[/accordion-item] [/accordion] [gap] [/tab] [tab title=”Application For System Maid Online”] [accordion] [accordion-item title=”What are the required documents for System Maid Online application?”]- A copy of employer’s NRIC / a copy of employer’s passport for Non-Malaysian.
- A copy of System Maid Online Slip that can be obtained from the Immigration Department of Malaysia.
To provide sample Maid Online Slip approval from Immigration Department.
- If the status of FOMEMA Medical Examinations result is “UNSUITABLE“, the slip of Medical Examinations result “UNSUITABLE TO WORK IN MALAYSIA” will be sent to the employer and the employer must send the worker back to his / her country of origin.
- Any FOLLOW-UP or APPEAL of the Medical Examination result for System Maid Online Application is “NOT” allowed as stated by the Immigration Department of Malaysia.
Only the employer can submit an appeal through the examining doctor.
[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title=”To whom should the appeal be submitted to?”]Employers are to submit the appeal through the examining doctor who carried out the medical examination on the Foreign Worker.
[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title=”My Foreign Worker has been found medically unsuitable. How long do i submit an appeal?”]The appeal should be submitted in writing to the examining doctor within two weeks of the certification date or date of amendment of the status of the Foreign Worker.
[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title=”How long does the appeal process take?”]The appeal process may take up to Four Weeks from the time of registration of appeal. If the employer does not submit the required investigations within four weeks of the submission of the appeal, the case will be closed.
[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title=”Why is there a quota imposed on each doctor of the panel?”]- The quota system was imposed by the Ministry of Health (MOH) to ensure a fair and equitable distribution of the number of Foreign Workers to be examined under the health-screening program amongst doctors registered with FOMEMA.
- Each doctor is allowed to examine up to 500 Foreign Workers annually as directed by MOH.
- However, the MOH grants approval for exceeding the quota for exceptional cases, where there are insufficient doctors in the locality especially in remote areas, taking into consideration the number of registered doctors with FOMEMA and the number of Foreign Workers in the area.
- The MOH provides clear guidelines for the approval of such requests for an increase in quota to ensure that the employers in the affected areas are not inconvenienced. FOMEMA implements the MOH’s directive.
This will depend on the circumstances of each case as decided by the examining doctor. The examining doctor may require the Foreign Worker to re-take the X-ray, carry out laboratory tests or undergo a specialist assessment as required by the Ministry of Health Malaysia. All costs relating to the appeal will be borne by the employer.
[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title=”Why does our worker’s status not available at the Immigration Department when FOMEMA has confirmed to us that it (FOMEMA) has transmitted the medical status?”]FOMEMA is required to transmit the medical status of Foreign Workers only to Immigration Department Headquarters’ database. The medical status is then re-transmitted from the Immigration Department Headquarters’ to the respective state Immigration Departments. Therefore, a time lapse of some duration may arise when connectivity is affected between the state level Immigration Department and the Headquarters. In such situation, you can always seek FOMEMA’s assistance.
[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title=”What are the documents the authorised employer has to provide if the Foreign Worker attached with a sub-company or a representative to submit appeal?”]If the sub-company or a representative making an appeal on behalf of the authorised employer, the authorised employer has to provide an authorization letter to their sub-company or a representative.
[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title=”What is the duration for the confirmation test for drug (opiates and cannabinoids ) test to be done?”]Normally the drug confirmation test take up to 2-3 weeks from the date of the original specimen sent to the testing centre.
[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title=”Why does FOMEMA use original specimen for appeal cases regarding pregnancy and drug?”]Medical status is based on the result obtained at the time of the medical examination. Therefore, if there is a request to review the medical status, confirmation test should be carry out on the specimen collected on the initial medical examination.
[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title=”Our Foreign Worker’s medical status at FOMEMA is shown unsuitable while our doctor has personally confirmed to us that he has certified our worker as suitable. What is the explanation?”]This could be happen when either the X-ray findings or the laboratory’s test results or both have shown abnormalities and these concerned have transmitted their findings accordingly. Despite the findings of abnormalities by X-ray clinic or laboratory, your chosen doctor had certified your worker suitable. In such a situation of inconsistencies, our system of monitoring automatically detects them and upon our investigation (and based on criteria set by the Ministry of Health), the worker’s status will be amended to unsuitable. An example would be where the laboratory test detected the presence of hepatitis b antigen but the doctor chooses to transmit the certification as suitable. This is the essence of the health-screening program under our system, to detect and prevent inconsistencies or likely abuses.
[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title=”Could FOMEMA change the status of our Foreign Workers to unsuitable?”]Yes, if we have subsequent evidence that the worker has not met the criteria of suitable certification even though the examining doctor had initially certified the Foreign Worker as suitable. This mainly arises from our auditing of the X-ray films by our x-ray quality control centre, where the X-ray film was initially misread as ‘normal’. in such a situation, FOMEMA will inform the employer, the doctor and the immigration department accordingly that the Foreign Worker’s status has been amended to unsuitable.
[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title=”What are the conditions that are not allowed for appeal?”]According to the policy agreed between the Ministry of Health Malaysia and Fomema Sdn.Bhd the conditions that are not allowed for appeal are:
- TUBERCULOSIS
All of the chest X-rays films reported with Tuberculosis that already been audited by FOMEMA radiologist. - MALARIA
All medical screening result that found to be positive with Malaria using the ELISA method during the medical screening process is already been proceed with confirmation test using the BFMP method done by MKAK (Makmal Kesihatan Awam Kebangsaan). - PREGNANCY
All medical screening result that found to be positive with pregnancy using the UPT method is already been proceed with confirmation test using the existing blood sample by serum B-HCG method. - SYPHILIS
All medical screening result that found to be positive with Syphilis using the VDRL method is already been proceed with a confirmation test using the existing blood sample by RPR method.
- A copy of JIM Approval (Immigration Department)
- A copy of JTKSM Approval
To provide sample of JIM Approval
To provide sample of JTKSM Approval
[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title=”What if the employer does not obtain JTKSM Approval?”]It is mandatory for all Recalibration Program worker to obtain JTKSM Approval before register FOMEMA.
[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title=”My Recalibration Program worker was previously registered with another employer. Now I am unable to register the worker under my company.”]The Foreign Worker shall be transferred to your worker list. Please email below documents to cs@fomema.com.my.
- A copy of JIM Approval (Immigration Department)
- A copy of JTKSM Approval
- SSM company
The government has accepted and recognised FOMEMA as an independent agency to monitor and supervise the Medical Examination for this mandatory Health-Screening Program. The system of monitoring and surveillance is tailored to ensure the quality and integrity of the Medical Examination and to prevent likely abuses by Agents, Employers, Doctors and others in the Medical Examination of Foreign Workers. In addition, the government is able to access timely, centralised and nationwide information on the Foreign Workers’ health status for appropriate actions. It is a centralised process to facilitate and coordinate the renewal of work permits nationwide.
[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title=”We have been told that our professional worker (expatriates need a medical check-up before working in Malaysia. Does the worker need to go through FOMEMA Medical Examination?”]FOMEMA Medical Screening is catered for (blue collar) workers only. Expatriates do not need to go through FOMEMA Medical Screening.
[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title=”When will the medical status of my Foreign Workers will be available at Immigration Department?”]Under normal circumstances, FOMEMA will be able to transmit the certification of the medical status to the Immigration Department Headquarters within 10 working days from the date of examination by the doctor of your workers. (Please take note that it is not from the date of registration with FOMEMA) .
[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title=”Why does our worker’s status not available at the Immigration Department when FOMEMA has confirmed to us that it (FOMEMA) has transmitted the medical status?”]FOMEMA is required to transmit the medical status of Foreign Workers only to Immigration Department Headquarters’ database. The medical status is then re-transmitted from the Immigration Department Headquarters’ to the respective state Immigration Departments. Therefore, a time lapse of some duration may arise when connectivity is affected between the state level Immigration Department and the Headquarters. In such situation, you can always seek FOMEMA’s assistance.
[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title=”How we can obtain a full medical report of Foreign Worker?”]To obtain a full medical report of a Foreign Worker, an employer can request directly from the beginning doctor, provided that the worker has given a written consent as the medical report is deemed confidential.
[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title=”How does FOMEMA notify the Immigration of Malaysia that a Worker is certified as unsuitable?”]Foreign Worker’s Medical Examination results will be automatically directed from FOMEMA system to Immigration System as both systems are linked.
[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title=”If a Foreign Worker certified as unsuitable, is there any time frame for the employer to send the worker to their origin country?”]FOMEMA is responsible to determine whether the worker is suitable or unsuitable. Kindly refer to the Immigration of Malaysia regarding the time frame to send a Foreign Worker back to their origin country.
[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title=”Why a Foreign Worker with a high sugar level/diabetic is unfit?”]Diabetic Mellitus (DM) is a chronic non-communicable disease. Any foreign worker with DM will require long-term treatment and follow-up. This will indirectly reduce the worker’s productivity because the worker will need to go to health care facility frequently.
[/accordion-item] [/accordion] [gap] [/tab] [tab title=”FOMEMA Panel of Clinics”] [accordion] [accordion-item title=”When should we register our Foreign Worker(s) for Medical Examination?”]The guidelines by the Immigration Department stipulate that employers need to renew the work permit of their workers 3 months before expiry. Late renewals may result in compound/fines.
[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title=”Why we could not choose the same doctor as in the previous year?”]- The chosen doctor may have achieved the stipulated quota for the year;
- The chosen doctor may not be in service with FOMEMA temporary or the doctor is no longer in practice.
No. It is the responsibility of employers to choose the doctor for their Foreign Workers’ for Medical Examination. To facilitate the selection by employers, detailed listings of the panel of registered doctors are publicly displayed at all FOMEMA branches or at Doctor Availability page. We stress that, FOMEMA and its staff are not responsible for the selection. Disciplinary actions have been taken against those found doing so.
[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title=”Why FOMEMA could not transmit the results immediately after we have paid the registration fees at FOMEMA branches?”]At that point in time there are no results to transmit. Foreign Workers must undergo the required medical examination at the chosen Doctor’s clinic and X-ray centre before the doctor can submit the results to FOMEMA. We advise the employers to start the process of medical examination early to avoid unforeseen circumstances or delay.
[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title=”Why do FOMEMA registered doctors and X-ray centres insist on us presenting the original passport?”]It is crucial for the purpose of verification of the identity of the Foreign Workers under this mandatory Health-Screening Program. FOMEMA has detected attempts by irresponsible parties/employers using substitutes to undergo the Medical Examination on behalf of unhealthy workers. It is our Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that doctors must not carry out the medical examination unless the identity of the Foreign Worker is ascertained.
[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title=”Can we use FOMEMA medical card or immigration card or our company employee identification card for this purpose?”]Only the original passport is the legal document for the purpose of identification under this mandatory Annual Health-Screening Program.
[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title=”Can we use the photocopy of the original passport for verification of identity of the Foreign Worker?”]No, it is not valid for the purpose of this crucial procedure of verification of identity.
[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title=”We are disappointed that your panel of doctors cannot expedite the medical examination process?”]We wish to explain that a doctor is physically only capable of carrying out a limited number of medical examinations per day. As a guide, a through medical examination based on our standard format of medical examination takes about 15 minutes to complete. Therefore, we advise employers to make an appointment with the doctor concerned to schedule the medical examination of their workers if they intend to bring a large number of workers.
[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title=”Why does FOMEMA certify my workers unsuitable when our specialist doctor, after repeating the examinations, confirms that my workers are fit to work?”]The medical examination under FOMEMA is a screening program and not definitely diagnostic in nature. The criteria used for certification of Foreign Workers’ Health status are determined by the MOH and FOMEMA adheres strictly to them. Doctors who are not as FOMEMA panel for the Foreign Workers’ Health-Screening program may not have the criteria for certification for SUITABILITY FOR EMPLOYMENT IN THE COUNTRY. A doctor may have the opinion that the worker is fit to work at the time of medical examination despite having detected the likelihood of a Communicable Disease. Common examples are medical results of workers having indication of Pulmonary Tuberculosis (PTB) or old PTB which may re-activate anytime after the medical examination. In such cases, the benefit of the doubt is given to the country and not the Foreign Worker. As such, under the criteria set by the Ministry of Health, the worker will be certified as UNSUITABLE FOR EMPLOYMENT where there is an indication of communicable diseases even though the diseases are not active at the time of medical examination
[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title=”Could we select the X-ray clinic of our choice?”]When the employers choose the registered Doctor, the X-ray facility has already been pre-assigned to that doctor as indicated in the FOMEMA Medical Examination form. The X-ray clinics are assigned to the doctors when they register with FOMEMA, based on criteria set by the Ministry of Health taking into account the independence of operation and the integrity necessary under this Annual Mandatory Health-Screening Program.
[/accordion-item] [/accordion] [gap] [button text=”Download PDF HERE” link=”https://uat.fomema2u.com.my/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/FOMEMA_Service_Providers.pdf”] [/tab] [tab title=”Guidelines for FOMEMA Panel Service Provider”] [accordion] [accordion-item title=”Who is FOMEMA Panel Service Providers?”]- General Practitioners for Physical & System examinations
- General Practitioners for Chest X-Ray examination
- Laboratory facility who carry out the laboratory tests
- Reporting Radiologist who do the reporting for chest X-ray images
- Email your official application letter to our Customer Service Department at cs@fomema.com.my. Please ensure this letter is complete with the name of doctor to be registered and premise’s address.
- The application requires a screening process and the status of an application will be updated to you accordingly.
- The applicant will receive the list of required documentations only if being shortlisted from the above screening process.
- For Physical & System medical examinations General Practitioners, a premise can only have one registered doctor at one time.
- However, for X-Ray examinations General Practitioners, one doctor may register at several premises at one time; subject to his/her X-ray license.
- FOMEMA panel service providers shall have fixed and specified operating hours with a minimum of 8 hours a day, 5 days a week and the operating hours must be displayed to the public.
- The General Practitioners may request for their preferred X-Ray facility or laboratory. However, the allocations of the X-Ray facility and the laboratory is strictly based on the criteria that have been set by the Ministry of Health, Malaysia and with consideration by the management of FOMEMA.
- The allocations of the X-Ray facility and the laboratory to the doctor are strictly based on the criteria that have been set by the Ministry of Health, Malaysia and with consideration by the management of FOMEMA.
- A valid written explanation must be lodged and email to cs@fomema.com.my for further investigation.
- Yes, you may send the request by email to cs@fomema.com.my.
- Digital Online Transmission System (DOTS) is a system to transmit the digital images and X-ray films of medical examinations of foreign workers’ via online.
- The system aimed to improve the quality and standards of FOMEMA health screening system.
- The system offers faster diagnosis of X-ray films, less time consuming and efficient reporting workflow thus, a sustainable alternative towards a healthy environment.
- Only the X-ray facilities equipped or installed with (DOTS) are allowed to register as FOMEMA panel Service Providers.
- Yes, all radiologists can be registered with FOMEMA.
- In this case, the registered doctor is required to formally inform FOMEMA on his/her status. It is advisable to notify us at least 2 weeks prior resignation to avoid any pending of results transmission to FOMEMA.
- For doctor’s replacement, the new doctor or the management of the clinic is require to notify us in writing accordingly to the same above email address. New replacement doctor requires a screening process and the status of an application will be updated accordingly.
- Foreign workers’ medical examination records and examined reports must be kept for a minimum period of seven (7) years. The latest two (2) years of the records shall be kept at the registered clinic.
- Quota request can only be made by employers.
- Email official request to our Customer Service Department at cs@fomema.com.my.
- Decisions on additional quotas are strictly based on approval by the Ministry of Health, Malaysia
