Thais mandate migrant worker health checks

[phuketrichard]

seems like a infringement of human rights BUT as we all know that the THai's have always looked down on the Khmer's.

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.

“It’s not voluntary, but the workers aren’t told what will happen once they cross the border or what the doctors will do,” Plaii said. “It’s a violation of the workers’ rights to bypass properly informed consent.”

But no one seems to know what all the workers could be consenting to. Upon crossing the border, a labourer’s trek back to Thailand begins with an 80-baht temporary identification card doled out at newly created coordinating centres. Employers then retrieve the freshly arrived workers from the checkpoint, and within 60 days must take them to a one-stop centre to request a longer-term permit, where the requisite tests are undertaken and fees levied.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/t ... lth-checks