JEDDAH, 8 January 2006 — Filipino community leaders here want Manila to send another doctor to Jeddah and to expand the shelter for distressed women workers inside the Philippine Consulate.
They also stressed the need for a comprehensive health care program especially for those not covered by health insurance by their companies in the Kingdom.
“Many Filipino workers in Saudi Arabia need Filipino doctors now more than before,” one OFW said during a seminar organized by the consulate to orient community leaders or representatives on the services provided by the consulate’s Assistance to National Section, together with the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).
Assistant Labor Representative Des Dicang said the participants were divided into groups to formulate an action plan during the two-day seminar and one of those strongly sought was the continuation of the pilot project of the health and labor departments to send doctors in places abroad where there is a big concentration of Filipino overseas workers.
A doctor assigned to Jeddah under that program returned home in the third quarter of last year after his contract lapsed.
Some of the participants noted that OFWs swarm medical and dental missions because they could not afford to pay in hospitals or clinics.
Participants also pointed out that an emergency fund is badly needed for stranded OFWs.
They said they could raise the fund but they wanted the POLO to help direct where the money would go and to ensure that it won’t be squandered.
They also pushed for the expansion of the shelter at the consulate, known as the FWRC, to include a social hall where Filipinos can gather and conduct livelihood seminars or other functions that would benefit distressed workers.
Without a social hall, organizations have to spend for function rooms in restaurants and hotels money that should be given to charity, they said.
Labor Attaché Bulyok Nilong assured the participants that the action plan will make its way to Manila in the form of a resolution, and that his office will strongly recommend the plan.
Nilong said the seminar was meant to make community leaders aware of what the consulate and its attached components are doing so that they can help in providing solutions.
Consul General Pendosina Lomondot updated the participants on what the consulate had been doing in line with its mandate to provide assistance for Filipino nationals in need of help.