Pinay OFW with COVID-19 in Abu Dhabi beats curfew to seek help

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - A 46-year-old domestic helper in Abu Dhabi, who tested positive for COVID-19, recently beat the odds and made it to a hospital to seek treatment minutes before the city went into a nightly lockdown.

Gregoria Ansong (not her real name) said she was out in the streets at past 9 p.m. of June 14 and took a cab to the Philippine Embassy, with all her belongings, for help.

“Pero sarado na. Hindi ko na alam ang gagawin ko,” she said, recalling how she was becoming frantic and agitated.

Ansong said her previous employer advised her on the phone to go to the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center (ADNEC) instead, which has been converted into a COVID facility, “pero sarado na rin.”

Meantime, clock was ticking closer to the 10 p.m. curfew. Stiff penalties are imposed against violators and Ansong knew she would have a lot of explaining to do to convince the police to reconsider.

“My previous employer then told me to try the (government-run Sheikh Khalifa Medical City) and I did,” Ansong said.

She was admitted and in minutes was on an ambulance, which took her to a converted COVID isolation center in Musaffah, southwest of the city, where she is staying at as of press time. She needs to test negative at least twice before she could be allowed to leave.

“Na-traumatized ako,” said Ansong.

Her ordeal started when her new employer asked her to leave after four of the household’s 10 occupants, including herself and her ward, the matriarch who was over 70 years old, tested positive for COVID-19.

Ansong said she would have been allowed to stay and be “cohorted” with her ward in a room had the latter not tested negative on the second round of swabbing. Cohorting is when people who tested positive are placed in one room to be isolated from the rest of the occupants.

“Sinabihan ako ng amo ko na hindi na ako puwedeng mag-stay du'n dahil marami nang positive,” Ansong said, adding that legally, her new employer has no obligation to keep her because they were still working on her work visa which has not been issued due to technicalities with her old one from a previous employer. Ansong has just recently moved in to the household.

“Sabi ko sa amo ko, sa ngayon po wala po akong alam na matutuluyan,” said Ansong to which her employer suggested she call a cab and head to the embassy.

Ansong said she was already not feeling well by the time she arrived at the Musaffa isolation center at 2 a.m. of June 15. “Gutom na gutom na ko. Nahihilo na ako sa gutom. Tinulog ko na lang,” she said.

Ansong said the new employer has told her she can come back to them once she has tested negative and following a 14-day quarantine, but she said, she’d prefer to go back home.

“Naisip ko na gusto ko na lang umuwi kasi walang kasama mga anak ko,” she said. Her eldest is 22 years old; the youngest is 16, she said. —KG, GMA News