New Health Screening Requirements for Expats in UAE

Posted on May 03, 2011 by Sergio Ulloa (G+)

Last Sunday, the UAE 's Ministerial Service Council, chaired by Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, announced that expatriate workers who want to work in the UAE must get medical tests done in both their home countries and in the UAE prior to receiving a work visa for the emirate. Many expatriate workers try to cheat the system by providing a fake medical test result from their home country. The new system will curb the number of workers, who slip into the UAE work force with fake certificates, by mandating re-tests once the workers arrive in the UAE. The Ministerial Service Council has ordered the Ministry of Health to prepare and implement the legislations necessary to put the new system into effect. Expatriate workers, who bring communicable diseases into the UAE, have been a long-term issue for the council. Another challenge that the council fights in preventing expatriate workers with communicable diseases from entering the country is internal corruption. Recently eight people, an Emirati health official, her uncle, and six others, were accused of accepting bribes and forging health certificates for individuals with infectious diseases. The 25-year old Emirati woman, who worked for the Dubai Health Authority (DHA), is charged with accepting 30,000 Dhs ($8,167 USD) in bribe from her 42-year old Indian uncle to forge and issue health certificates to expatriate workers who have communicable diseases. The uncle owns a typing center, which he is accused of working out of to distribute clean medical certificates to people with infectious diseases, ranging from hepatitis to Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Prosecutors claimed that the 25-year old niece would abuse her authority and position to stamp certificates with a free-of-communicable-diseases stamp during her night shift. Another two DHA clerks, a 28-year old Iranian and a 30-year old Indian, are also charged for accepting 45,000 Dhs ($12,251 USD) from four Pakistani workers to forge similar health certificates. As of Monday, the Emirati woman has pleaded not guilty before the Dubai Court of First Instance. Her uncle also pleaded not guilty as he defended himself in the courtroom, which was presided by Judge Hamad Abdul Latif Abdul Jaward. The 28-year old Iranian, 30-year old Indian, and one of the four Pakistani workers have too pleaded not guilty, while the other three Pakistani workers were not present for Monday's trial. An Emirati second lieutenant testified that the Dubai Police's CID was informed that an Asian suspect was responsible for forging health certificates at one of the DHA's fitness centers. He also notes, "We arrested the uncle who ran a typing center. During interrogation, he admitted that he collected from one of the Pakistani workers applications for individuals with infectious diseases and needed to renew their residence permits or have one issued." The lieutenant also claimed that the uncle would charge around 500 Dhs to 1,000 Dhs ($136 to $272 USD) per application. He goes on to say, "We detained one of the Pakistani individuals, who immediately admitted the two clerks, who worked in fitness centers, used to issue for him the forged certificates." Prosecution records showed that the confession was confirmed by another one of the Pakistani workers after he was arrested. Although the new system cannot prevent DHA health officials from forging health certificates, it can deter expatriate workers who have infectious diseases from coming into the country with false test results and help relieve the pressure on the UAE healthcare system. Any expatriate who wishes to work and live in the UAE is required to get a health check to see if he or she has HIV/AIDS, syphilis, or pulmonary TB. Housemaids and nannies will also be subjected to a pregnancy test, while kindergarten school employees, barber shop, health club, and restaurant workers will also have to test for hepatitis B. The Ministerial Service Council hopes that the new system will lessen the stress and expenses on the UAE healthcare system, which has to treat all patients with communicable diseases before deporting them. The number of people waiting to get tested is also expected to drop as expatriate workers will be deterred from trying to get into the country with faked test results. DHA clinics have been so busy recently that some have suffered a breakdown in services.