Cases of Employers Repatriating Injured Migrant Workers against Their Will

2 Mr Leon Perera asked the Minister for Manpower (a) in the last five years, whether there are employers repatriating injured migrant workers against their will due to high healthcare costs and, if so, how many of such instances have there been; (b) how many complaints have been received in the past five years relating to the employer’s failure to furnish a letter of guarantee, thereby impeding healthcare access for migrant workers; (c) what actions have been taken against such errant employers; and (d) what steps are taken to ensure that migrant workers are educated about laws and entitlements relating to their healthcare needs and the scope of their insurance coverage in their native language.

The Senior Minister of State for Manpower (Mr Zaqy Mohamad) (for the Minister for Manpower): Mr Speaker, employers are responsible to pay for their migrant worker’s medical expenses incurred in Singapore. Injured workers must be certified medically fit to fly, before being repatriated. Therefore, this prevents workers with serious injuries from being repatriated before they are treated.

Employers are also prohibited from repatriating migrant workers whose presence in Singapore is required to process their work injury or salary claims. The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) took action against two errant employers for illegal repatriation of migrant workers in the past five years.

MOM holds employers liable to pay for their migrant worker’s medical expenses incurred in Singapore. Under our laws, employers must buy medical insurance for migrant workers, which provides coverage of $15,000 and typically covers 95% of hospital bills arising from non-work injury. Most employers also buy work injury insurance coverage of at least $45,000 per accident, which will also cover 95% of work injury bills. Employers may claim the medical expenses from these insurance plans.

For medical emergency cases, the hospitals will proceed even without LOGs. Workers are not denied such treatment regardless of their employer’s ability to pay. For non-emergency cases, hospitals may ask for LOG before treatment, to be assured that the employer knows and is able to pay.

MOM is reviewing medical insurance coverage to help employers better manage large unexpected medical expenses and give both employers and workers greater peace of mind.

Between 2016 and 2020, there were 63 substantiated cases of employers not paying medical bills of their migrant workers. For the vast majority of these cases, the employers paid up shortly after administrative actions were taken by MOM. The remaining employers who failed to pay were prosecuted under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act.

MOM educates new migrant workers about their employment rights and protections under Singapore law. And this is done via the Settling-In-Programme, or SIP. The SIP is conducted in the workers’ native languages to aid understanding. It covers workers’ entitlements to insurance coverage, healthcare access and work injury compensation.

MOM has also produced a guide for migrant workers, in their native languages, on how to seek medical help and provided contact information of MOM and NGOs. Workers may also use the 24/7 telemedicine service in the FWMOMCare mobile application to consult doctors.

At any time, workers may contact MOM about any employment issues through the reporting service on MOM website. Workers are also informed to alert Immigration and Checkpoints Authority officers at immigration checkpoints if their employer attempts to repatriate them when they have a pending work injury or salary claim.

Mr Leon Perera (Aljunied): I thank the Senior Minister of State for the detailed explanation. Just one supplementary question relating to the hotline. I think the Senior Minister of State mentioned that MOM has a hotline, a web service that migrant workers can use to raise these kinds of complaints about healthcare or other issues, and that awareness is raised about that when they initially come into Singapore.

Can the Senior Minister of State share if this hotline or complaint service is widely used and is there any level of comfort that the migrant workers are comfortable with using this hotline and this appeal service, whether it is on the web or by phone? Because a lot will depend on the migrant workers coming forward to highlight these abuses; no one else may be aware of them at the point when these things happen.

Mr Zaqy Mohamad: The hotline is just one channel. I do not have the numbers with me so I cannot comment on what the rates are at this point. The Member can always file a Parliamentary Question (PQ). What I can say is this, beyond the hotline, workers can always call the hotline but there is also the FWMOMCare app, in which they can do more than just report. They can also get telemedicine consultation service from doctors.

At the same time, they can walk into any hospital and make a report, or work through any of the NGOs that are available. I know of many NGOs today who are very active on the ground. The Migrant Workers' Centre (MWC), for example, has migrant worker ambassadors too, among their peers, about 5,000 of them, who can also take feedback. If they stay in a dormitory, they can also report to the dorm operators and we will take those on board.

Today, we have the Forward Assurance and Support Team or FAST teams which are very active on the on ground within the dorms; so they can report to any of our officers to inform them of some of the challenges.

So, there are two things: one, you can reach out but the nearest is the FWMOMCare app and through which the workers can also receive telemedicine service. So, beyond just reporting, the workers can also receive telemedicine assistance. Both ways, to some extent, compared to a few years ago before these developments, I think today, we got a lot more coverage than before.

As I mentioned, we are also reviewing the medical insurance coverage for the workers too.

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang (Nee Soon): I thank the Senior Minister of State for the reply. I think the problem really comes in when it is non-emergency cases, where, as the Senior Minister of State had mentioned, they need the LOG. I am just wondering whether MOM would review that requirement as well so that the migrant workers can get access to medical treatment as quickly as possible.

Mr Zaqy Mohamad: I thank the Member for his query. In fact, the requests come under the hospitals because they would like to be assured that the employers can pay. In fact, for me personally, I do not think that this is needed. However, the hospitals have a very different view.

This is something we will continue to work through with the hospitals, to assure them. My sense, as I shared earlier, 95% of cases are covered by both the medical insurance as well as work injury compensation insurance. What the hospitals have committed to is that for serious injury cases, they would take them in, even without the LOGs. For that, there will be no delay in treatment. However, these are things that we have to work through because I know hospitals too are concerned. They have to ascertain first that it is a work injury – that is one part to it. So, whether it is work injury or injury caused by something else. And secondly, the employers should be notified as well when their worker gets injured. Therefore, there is a process in place. But let us work through to see how we can make it more seamless for the workers.

Mr Murali Pillai (Bukit Batok): I thank the hon Senior Minister of State for his answer to the PQ. I have a follow-up question in relation to what the hon Senior Minister of State stated regarding the developing of an insurance programme to deal with the 5% of employers saddled with big hospital bills, particularly unexpected large medical bills.

I note from the MOM's Addendum to the President's Address that this is a matter that is under consideration. I filed a PQ which was up for answer on the 4 January 2021. And the hon Minister for Manpower mentioned that she is looking into this as well. My question is, when can we expect a response from MOM?

Because on the ground, this seems to be an issue, particularly given the fact that we are in the midst of a COVID-19 pandemic and there would be situations where workers would need treatment, particularly with ICU stay and all these things, it can add up to quite a bit, beyond the $15,000 threshold.

Mr Deputy Speaker: Senior Minister Zaqy Mohamad, I understand that Second Minister Dr Tan See Leng also wants to provide a clarification. And then, I will move on to the next question.

Mr Zaqy Mohamad: Okay, thank you, Deputy Speaker. On this aspect, we are reviewing it. I do not have a deadline that I can commit at this point. But rest assured it will be soon. I would let Dr Tan See Leng take over for further comments.

The Second Minister for Manpower (Dr Tan See Leng): Good morning! I thank Mr Murali Pillai for his question. I would like to provide an added clarification. If you recall in my speech last week, when I talked about the Migrant Worker Onboarding Centre, one of the key attributes of this centre is to set up an enhanced comprehensive medical examination and screening centre. Hence, that extended length of time.

Inherent in this enhanced medical screening and examination centre would be elements of the medical screening that would incorporate a detailed history-taking as well as examination to ascertain whether the migrant worker has any pre-existing chronic conditions or pre-existing medical conditions. It is envisaged that with that, as part of an overall comprehensive review, we will then be able to also price in the risks more accurately and more precisely with the underwriting by the different insurance companies that we have been working with.

MOM has worked on a pathway to develop this in the second half of this year. We have already engaged quite a number of insurance companies locally to help us come up with the underwriting of these premiums.

To the additional point about the number of individuals that needed hospitalisation beyond a certain level – I think the number was $15,000 – Members of Parliament would be happy to note that so far, we have been able to keep the population relatively well managed for large hospital bills, the large majority, that means 95% of them do not exceed this amount. For the additional 5%, MOH together with MOM, we have a special fund that is used to ensure that no one is actually denied the care that is needed to them.

I hope that addresses the concerns that our colleagues have.

Mr Deputy Speaker: Mr Gerald Giam, the next question, please.