Philippine recruitment agencies feared a drop in the deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to Malaysia after the Malaysian government required foreign applicants to electronically-upload their medical results as part of work requirements. Philippine Association of Manpower Agencies for Malaysian Affiliates (PAMAMA) president Buddy Curameng said the new requirement is an additional financial burden for applicants as it may lengthen the documentation processing time. He noted that the issuance of “Calling VISAs” for OFWs is already taking one to two months to be released by the Malaysian Immigration office. The new scheme will become  effective on June 15, 2013. All applicants will be required to pay US$15, equivalent to more than P600, for the uploading their  medical results. These will then be electronically submitted to the Malaysian Immigration system as part of the Calling VISA process, and to the Malaysian Embassy in Manila. Curameng said the  scheme will also become a huge burden to medical clinics which will have to pay $8,000 to be allowed to conduct medical testing for Malaysia-bound applicants under the new system. PAMAMA, an association composed of 85 licensed agencies, has sought the intervention of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in addressing the issue. Deployment of OFWs to Malaysia, especially of household service workers, rose dramatically by 80% in 2011 with 16, 797 OFWs compared to 8,902 in 2010. Curameng said Malaysian employers prefer hiring Filipina domestic workers, especially those from Mindanao who can speak Bahasa, the Malaysian official language. Source: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/308154/pinoyabroad/news/recruiters-see-drop-in-ofw-deployment-to-malaysia-with-new-medical-requirement