Internal Affairs ministry downplays medical insurance for migrant workers

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Ministry of Internal Affairs has downplayed the demands for medical insurance for migrant workers before they go out to seek employment in other countries.

Simon Mundeyi said that the ministry does not think that medical insurance is a solution to the several incidents in which Ugandans, especially those working in Middle East countries have their internal body organs, especially kidneys harvested.

Mundeyi says it’s better to concentrate on mandatory checking for internal organs and trauma injuries before leaving the country and landing at the airport.

This was in response to strong calls by the Migrant Workers’ Voice Labour Organization to the ministry to set up a policy for comprehensive insurance policy for migrant workers to cover their health before, during, and when they return from work.

According to Migrant Workers Voice, there should be an insurance policy catering for in-patient care and surgery, including hospital bills for conditions that may not be work-related. This should also be able to provide monetary compensation to the dependents of those who die while outside the country having gone for work.

Kayonde Abdullah, the President of Migrant Workers Voice questioned the government’s failure to adopt this insurance and said that the new measures to have migrant workers subjected to tests to ascertain if they have all their body organs intact before they fly out of the country are not enough. He says this can be put as one of the packages of insurance and the lives of the migrant workers insured.

The government through the Ministry of Internal Affairs yesterday announced that in the wake of increased organ harvesting, it is instituting mandatory testing for all Ugandans going abroad, especially to Middle East countries for work and those returning home, to confirm that they have all their vital internal organs.

The policy will be effective in the next two weeks and no person will be going into labor without undergoing body organ checks to confirm they have them all intact.

Labor export companies have been urged to prepare money for such expenses because no external work will be cleared without that medical certificate.

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