House panels OK bill creating hospital for OFWs


Three House panels have consecutively approved a measure seeking to establish a dedicated hospital for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and their dependents.
The House Committee on Health joint with the Committee on Appropriations on Monday approved House Bill 9194, principally authored no less than by Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, while the House Committee on Ways and Means approved the measure's tax provision on Tuesday.
Under the measure, a hospital, to be called the OFW Hospital, will be developed to cater to the health care needs of Filipino migrant workers and their families.
The said hospital will be under the full administrative and technical supervision of the Department of Health and will serve as the primary referral hospital for repatriated OFWs who need medical assistance and support.
Apart from providing comprehensive health care services to OFW contributors to the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and their legal dependents, the hospital is also mandated to conduct medical examinations to make sure that OFWs are well-capacitated when they work abroad.
Further, the hospital is also tasked to set up systems that will monitor the condition of patients and to produce relevant health information and data for policy formulation.
"You remember I sent a letter to Senate… this is not one of them. This is an additional bill, because he (Duterte) asked for a bill for workers during Labor Day, so it’s best effort," Arroyo told reporters in an ambush interview.
"Definitely if we don’t get to pass it, this particular 17th Congress, I will ask our allies to refile it," he added.
ACTS-OFW party-list Representative John Bertiz III welcomed the approval of the measure at the committee level, saying that its passage comes as a victory for OFWs needing health care services.
"This program has been on top of our priority list at the start of our term. We have long sought for the creation of an OFW hospital and we are one step closer to providing our modern-day heroes a medical facility specifically for their needs," Bertiz said in a statement.
"The establishment of OFW hospitals will also be beneficial for pre-employment medical examinations, possibly cutting the cost of hospital expenses for our modern-day heroes before they depart to work abroad," he added. — Erwin Colcol/RSJ, GMA News 

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