OFW group urges DOH urged to hit hard on clinics using ‘decking system’

MANILA, Philippines — A group on Thursday urged the Department of Health to show it means business by cracking down hard on clinics practicing the so called "referral decking system" of medical test for Filipinos seeking work in the Middle East. Migrante-Middle East said member clinics of Gamca, or the Gulf Cooperation Council-(GCC) Accredited Medical Clinics Association, mostly based in Metro Manila, continue to use the system even though it has been disallowed by the DOH since 2004. The “referral decking system" is a centralized medical referral decking system established in 2001 by GCC states — Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain supposedly to stop the proliferation of fake medical certificates and the transfer of communicable diseases from foreign workers to citizens of the GCC-member countries. But John Leonard Monterona, Migrante regional coordinator for the Middle East, said the Gamca actually operates like a mafia, ensuring that all its member-clinics are given enough allocation and share on "exorbitant" medical fees. Explaining how the "referral decking system" operates, Monterona said: "The recruitment agency refers the aspiring OFW to Gamca, and Gamca in turn designates a member-clinic to conduct the medical checkup and formalities on an aspiring OFWs only after the job seeker paying hundreds of pesos for the ‘referral’ made by Gamca." "Like a mafia, Gamca-member clinics are usually conniving with each other by intentionally failing the medical test of a would-be OFW and referring the OFW to another Gamca-member clinic for another round of medical test. Isn’t this a clear case of extortion?" he added. Monterona further said that even those who are healthy would be surprised to find that their medical test results indicate that they have a spot on their lungs, or need to clean their teeth, or need to undergo electro-cardiograph (ECG) test. "All these entail additional fees and these are clear cases of 'legalized' extortion perpetrated by Gamca-member clinics," he said. "What is worse is that if one challenges the medical test results or findings, Gamca-member clinics will not give you for instance the negative film of your X-ray or other test results; this is what exactly I personally experienced in a Gamca-member clinic," he added. On Sept. 26, 2008, Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III issued Department Memorandum No. 2008-0210 directed all clinics involved to “stop, terminate, withdraw or otherwise end the insidious practice known to as the ‘referral decking system.’" Monterona, however, said the DOH should go beyond issuing mere warnings and crack down hard on clinics that are defiant to protect other would-be OFWs from getting victimized. Even manpower agencies Earlier, a group of manpower agencies expressed support for the DOH campaign against the “referral decking system." Victor Fernandez Jr., president of the Philippine Association of Service Exporters, Inc. (Pasei), opposed the system as one that perpetuates the formation of a cartel of medical clinics. Aside from imposing exorbitant fees, migrant groups said that the system makes it difficult for workers in the Visayas and Mindanao regions to undergo the medical exam since all the Gamca clinics are in the Manila area. Even former Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA ) Administrator Rosalinda Baldoz has expressed her objection to the “decking system," citing the inconvenience of workers being sent to distant clinics and the unnecessary examination involved in Phase 2 of the medical protocol, where the workers pay for it even they are not sure of passing Phase 1. Pasei leaders have welcomed the proposal that DOH will put up its own OFW medical clinic in every region, not forgetting that there is a need for the Department of Foreign Affairs to push for bilateral agreements because of the Gamca. - GMANews.TV