KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 22): The Foreign Worker Health Screening Biometric System aimed at tackling identity theft issue will be fully implemented nationwide by February next year.

President and chief executive officer of the Foreign Workers Medical Examination Monitoring Agency (Fomema) Datuk  Mohd Hatar Ismail said this was because the upgrading of the computer system at certain Fomema panel clinics were still ongoing.

“The development of Fomema integration system and the Immigration Department’s information technology system for the purpose are also in the final stage,” he told Bernama here.

The biometric system was initially scheduled to be implemented last October.

Through the system, foreign workers will be required to use biometric fingerprint identification to undergo health screening at over 3,000 Fomema panel clinics in a bid to ensure that only healthy workers were hired to work in the country.

Mohd  Hatar said Fomema had so far distributed the biometric reader to over 2,000 clinics and would continue to do do before the full implementation of the system.