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 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more