Russia’s consumer safety watchdog is planning to set up certified laboratories in the CIS states to check potential migrant labor for dangerous infections, Rospotrebnadzor chief Gennady Onishchenko said on Friday.
“Unfortunately, [at the moment] we only do checks here [in Russia]. We are planning to certify laboratories there, ones that we could trust,” he said.
Under current laws, if a dangerous infection is detected in an immigrant working in Russia he is subject to immediate deportation to his home country, Onishchenko recalled.
He said on Wednesday illegal labor migration is spurring the spread of HIV and tuberculosis in Russia.
Russia issued more than two million work permits to foreigners in 2009.
The figure for the first nine months of 2010 stood at less than one million permits, or 59 percent of the government’s annual quota.
Legal migrant workers in Russia are required to undergo health checks including screening for HIV and tuberculosis.