Employers in Singapore must purchases medical insurance for their foreign workers and maids or risk jail terms and fines under new rules issued Friday.

Starting in January, bosses are required to provide coverage of at least 5,000 Singapore dollars (3,289 US dollars) a year if the worker or maid is hospitalized or needs day surgery.

The Ministry of Health requirement applies to all new foreign workers and maids entering the city-state, in addition to those already in Singapore.

There are currently 645,000 foreigners holding work permits, mostly from South-East Asian countries and India.

Statistics showed that foreign workers are hospitalized most often for dengue fever, appendicitis and stomach flu.

Employers who do not buy policies can be jailed for up to six months and fined 5,000 Singapore dollars (3,289 US dollars), the ministry statement said.

The insurance is needed as medical fees will be increasing for foreigners. Subsidies in public hospitals and polyclinics will be withdrawn for all foreign workers starting in January.

"This is a very good thing and has been long overdue," The Straits Times quoted Jolovan Wham, executive director of a welfare group for foreign workers, as saying of the new rule.

Every month, a foreign worker whose employer has refused to pay his medical bill approaches the group for help, he said. dpa ry ff