Currently, a first-time maid must go for a health screening for tuberculosis, HIV, syphilis and malaria within 14 days of arrival here, to ensure that she does not have these infectious diseases and is generally fit to work.
She must then go for a six-monthly health screening for these diseases and to check that she is not pregnant.
However, as some maids may come from complicated backgrounds, such as broken or abusive families, or have been abused by previous employers, they may not be in the right frame of mind to work for certain groups of people.
In light of the recent cases, “Elderly woman found dead in bungalow pool; maid arrested” (March 20), “Maid arrested in connection with murder of woman at Bukit Timah condo” (March 5, online) and “Maid detained after teenager found dead in flat” (Nov 15), additional safety measures should be introduced.
For example, to protect employers, all first-time maids should go for a mental health check before being employed. If a maid is found to have mental health issues, she should go for three- or six-monthly checks.
If her situation does not improve even after treatment, then the maid agency should warn the employer or, better still, repatriate the maid and find a new one for the employer at no extra cost.
Such checks would be especially important for maids who have to care for the elderly, the mentally infirm, people with disabilities or those with low IQ.
If the maid passes her mental health check, she would not need to go for the periodic checks, unless the employer finds that her psychological health has changed significantly, for example, from being a bubbly person to a hot-tempered one.
Should the Manpower Ministry adopt this measure, I hope that tragedies like the ones in Victoria Park Road, Bukit Timah and Tampines can be prevented.
EUNICE LI DAN YUE
*Article first appeared on http://www.todayonline.com/voices/mental-health-checks-maids