Employers must send back expatriate employees diagnosed with contagious diseases to their homelands without endangering the health of the others in the country, a senior labour ministry official has said.
Urging employers not to underestimate the issue, Aisha Ba Lharfyah, Director of the Labour Offices at the Ministry of Labour said “employers who brought laborers with contagious diseases proven by medical examination should initiate action to deport him to his country and not leave him in the UAE where his presence will be dangerous to others.”
In line with the ministry’s stand on the issue, a plea against fine imposed on a labour accommodation where an expatriate worker diagnosed with a contagious disease was allowed to live for a year was dismissed at the weekly meeting of the labour committee.
The committee considered it a violation on part of the employer for allowing the man to live on, and the worker for staying on without a labour card and visa not allowed since he was diagnosed with the disease.
While the UAE authorities hasten to deport workers diagnosed with diseases such as AIDS and Hepatitis B, some of the workers allegedly circumvent the system and reside illegally.