Vega: Sick returning overseas Filipinos can be brought straight to hospital

Returning overseas Filipinos who are sick may be taken straight to a hospital instead of a quarantine facility, treatment czar Health Undersecretary Leopoldo Vega said Friday after an OFW died of cancer while under quarantine.

“On humanitarian reasons, dapat point-to-point ‘yan. Kailangan makipag-ugnayan sila sa hospitals na sunduin kaagad sa airport at saka ilalagay sa hospital kung saan sila nakipag-ugnayan,” Vega said in a Laging Handa briefing.

(For humanitarian reasons, it should be point-to-point. They need to coordinate with hospitals so they can be picked up straight from the airport and taken to the hospital.)

According to Tina Panganiban-Perez’s “24 Oras” report on Wednesday, OFW Rachelle Sagonoy landed in Cebu from Saudi Arabia on August 10. She tested negative for COVID-19 and was taken to a quarantine facility.

Sagonoy’s family pleaded for her to be quarantined at a hospital since she had cervical cancer, but their request was denied. Her family learned of her death on August 20, the last day of her quarantine.

The DOH earlier said it had ordered an investigation into the case, while the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration said Sagonoy was not transferred because hospitals in Cebu were already full due to a spike in COVID-19 cases.

“It has to be point-to-point, lalo na ‘yung mga kasong gano’n na nangangailangan ng hospitalization. Pumapayag naman ang [Bureau of Quarantine] niyan,” Vega said.

(It has to be point-to-point, especially for cases like that that need hospitalization. The Bureau of Quarantine would allow that.) —NB, GMA News