Malaysia plans online medical report system

Malaysia is planning to adopt an online system for medical reports to reduce chances of recruiting unfit workers. The system will connect medical centres in 15 source countries and Malaysian embassies in those countries. We will adopt the system, said president of Nepal Health Professional Federation — an umbrella organisation of medical centres engaged in medical checkup of migrant workers — Pravin Tiwari. Malaysian experts will visit Nepal to instal the software and train personnel of the medical centres, he said. The Malaysian government has given the responsibility of developing the software to Bestinet Sdn Bhd —a software and technology wing of Kuala Lumpur-based JR Group. All 205 members of the federation will be eligible to adopt the online system. “The federation will coordinate in the process,” said vice president of the federation Kailash Khadka. However, some medical centres have shown concern regarding the price of the software. It costs around $8,000 (Rs 768,000) to instal and operate the software. Small medical centres cannot afford it, said a medical centre owner. Malaysia has been finding traces of pneumonia in Nepali migrant workers during medical check-ups after their arrival at the workplace. The destination has been sending back hundreds of migrant workers on health grounds. The online system will help solve the problem, Tiwari added.