Testing BOI workers before going home
Sri Lankan health authorities are currently carrying out tests on employees in the BOI zones ahead of the New Year holidays.
In a bid to ensure that those working in the zones do not carry home any diseases the Health Ministry and the Gampaha Epidemiology Unit have requested the companies to allow them to carry out testing on a majority of the employees, at the expense of the government, Free Trade Zones Manufacturers Association General Secretary Dhammika Fernando told the Business Times.
He noted that the health authorities are carrying out PCR testing on the employees in the BOI zones in the Gampaha district as this is a high risk area.
Testing is carried out on 300 employees per day which began on Monday it was noted adding that health authorities believe the workers in these zones are likely to infect their home folks when they return for the New Year holidays.
Companies in the zones depending on their traditions and practices close for the New Year holidays differently, it was noted.
While some grant two days’ leave others opt to provide a weeks’ holiday and still others grant half a month and as such there is no uniformity of this holiday period.
At present there are 32,423 employees in the Katunayaka zone, 30,000 at Biyagama, 9558 at Wathupitiwala and 2000 at Malwatte.
The concerns of the health authorities are particularly of workers in these zones whereas they believe those in other zones report to work from the surrounding villages and as a result testing is not carried out in other zones.
Meanwhile, the factory workers have not been given priority during the first vaccination drive that has been a cause for concern among trade unions and employees.