On migrant health care in Thailand

Two different (and opposing) perspectives on the cost of health care for migrants in Thailand:

Pradit floats idea for a regional health fund, The Nation, 15 June 2013

The large state spending for providing medical services to migrant workers and non-Thais along the Thailand-Myanmar border - in excess of Bt100 million a year - has prompted the Public Health Ministry to seek cooperation from the neighbouring country to set up a regional health fund. Public Health Minister Pradit Sinthawanarong said most of the hospitals in the five provinces along the border are having to shoulder the burden of providing healthcare services to migrant workers and non-Thais crossing the border.  Each year, the ministry has to spend more than Bt100 million to provide medical services to migrant workers and non-Thai citizens in five Tak districts along the border.  The government has allowed migrant workers to buy health insurance cards for Bt1,900 each to access medical services from hospitals they are registered with. But it found that only 32,154 workers had bought the insurance. Meanwhile, the ministry has spent more than Bt29 million to provide treatment for them and more than Bt112 million has been spent on non-Thais who have not registered yet.

Migrant workers miss out on healthcare, Myanmar Times, 24 June 2013

Migrant workers in Thailand say a new registration system has made it harder for them to access health care, with more than 1.2 million thought to be without any form of cover.

The Irrawaddy: Thai Company Reinstates Burmese Workers after Protest

The Irrawaddy reports:

Charoen Pokphand (CP), Thailand’s largest food manufacturer, agreed on Monday to reinstate more than 160 Burmese workers it had fired from a seafood-processing plant in Mahachai, Samut Sakhon Province, after workers staged a protest on Sunday.

The Irrawaddy: From Factories to Teashops, Child Labor a ‘Tradition’ in Burma

The Irrawaddy reports about ongoing child labour in Myanmar:

Child servers are a common sight at the average teashop or restaurant in Burma, where often the underage employees are working at the expense of schooling.
Burmese children have long been exploited as part of labor pools both at home and abroad, working for a pittance and receiving few social protections, labor activists and community leaders say.

More on the violence against Myanmar migrants in Malaysia

More articles about the fallout from violence against Myanmar migrants in Malaysia:

• Myanmar seeks protection for its nationals in Malaysia, Channel News Asia, 13 June 2013
• Violence stops as delegation visits Malaysia, Eleven Media, 13 June 2013
• Violence used to instigate Myanmars, Asia One News, 13 June 2013
• Violence in Malaysia Has Some Burmese Heading for Exits, The Irrawaddy, 14 June 2013
• Myanmar deputy minister: Clashes not linked to troubles back home, The Star Online, 14 June 2013
• Anger Over Attacks Against Myanmar Migrants in Malaysia, Global Voices, 14 June 2013
• Some 1,500 Burmese migrants in Malaysia want to return home, DVB, 20 June 2013
• ‘After These Incidents, Everyone Is Living With Worries’, The Irrawaddy, 18 June 2013
• Govt looks to bring refugees home from Malaysia, Mizzima News, 18 June 2013
• Air Bagan offers free flights to frightened Burmese workers in Malaysia, Karen News, 18 June 2013
• 25 more Myanmar migrant workers return home, Eleven Media, 18 June 2013
• 167 Myanmar workers arrive home from Malaysia, Eleven Media, 16 June 2013
• Myanmar suspends sending workers to Malaysia, Eleven Media, 15 June 2013

Asia Times Online: Thai shrimp workers battle low pay, abuse

Asia Times Online reports on conditions of migrant workers in Thailand's shrimp industry.

"Sakhon or modern Mahachai, a central Thai province that is home to over 6,000 seafood factories. This fishing and factory town at the mouth of the Tha Chin Klong river, which empties into the Gulf of Thailand, also hosts a huge percentage of the estimated 2.5 million migrant workers who underpin much of Thailand's burgeoning economy. People from Myanmar comprise 82%of these migrants, while the rest come mostly from Laos (8.4%) and Cambodia (9.5%)... smaller processing factories "force workers to work overtime for less pay. The legal minimum wage is 300 baht [US$10] per day and overtime is 56 baht per hour, but they usually pay 50-100 baht overall, and no overtime. Most workers are confined to the compound in these factories. Often, they are locked up and their documents confiscated to prevent them from escaping." This is especially true in smaller factories, which handle the shrimp peeling for larger enterprises, where "shifts start at 4 am and finish late at night," according to U Aung Kyaw. Thailand's seafood industry employs more than 650,000 people. Its exports totaled US$7.3 billion in 2011, with the United States, Japan and Europe importing nearly 70% of the country's seafood."

DVB: Burmese migrants face ‘systemic’ exploitation near border

DVB provides a very good report on the "systematic exploitation" of migrants in Mae Sot, with information on the recent case at the "Champion" (SD Fashion Co. Ltd) case.

“I was fired two days after my child was born,” explains Zaw Lay, gesturing to his infant son cradled in his mother’s arms on the dusty floor. “I begged them not to do it, but it didn’t work.”

DBV: Migrants protest Mae Sot passport company

According to DVB ("Protest against a company doing temporary passports," DVB, 10 June), 45 Myanmar migrants protested outside the office of "Ko Charlie's" passport company (a franchise of NIK Global Manpower company) after they were arrested by the Thai police on their way out of Mae Sot to collect their passports.  Although the passport company had accepted their applications for work permits with Bangkok employers, Mae Sot government authorities subsequently revoked the rights of Mae Sot passports companies to distribute within Mae Sot passports registered with employers outside Mae Sot (see also "Prisoners of Mae Sot," Mizzima, 23 May 2013).