70 DOH hospitals soon to have OFW wings

About 70 government hospitals will soon have wards exclusively for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and their families, a report on Unang Balita said Monday.

The report said this was after ACTS-OFW party-list signed a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Health (DOH), under which government hospitals are tasked to allot a separate ward or wing for OFWs and their families.

According to the report, the fund for the project will be sourced from the Hospital Facility Enhancement Program of the DOH.

The project was a pilot project of ACTS-OFW party-list in cooperation with the DOH, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), and Governors League of the Philippines.

During the MOA signing, ACTS-OFW party-list Representative John Bertiz thanked Health Secretary Paulyn Jean Rosell-Ubial for working with the group to make the project possible.

"Hindi naman ganon kasimple iyon na mago-open sila ng ward o wings. We really have to secure a budget pero naging maganda naman ang agreement natin at saka yung pakikipagtulungan ng DOH," Bertiz said.

The Dr. Jose B. Lingad Memorial Hospital in San Fernando Pampanga will be the first hospital to have OFW ward, Bertiz said, noting that Pampanga has the highest number of OFWs.

Bertiz said 10 government hospitals will have OFW wards within the year.

He also said the exclusive wings will be open even to former OFWs.

Ubial, for her part, said the project is a part of DOH's program for migrant health. She also announced countries with a large population of OFWs will have designated health attachés.

She said President Rodrigo Duterte and Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano have agreed to send health attachés to Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, United States, and in Geneva, Switzerland, among others.

"Napag-usapan po namin sa last Cabinet meeting na sinang-ayunan ni pangulo at ng DFA secretary natin na magkaroon tayo ng health attaché sa iilang mga bansa na maraming OFW," Ubial said. —Akari Nakano and Ronaldo Concha/KBK, GMA News