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By Sammy Martin, Correspondent
SENATE President Pro Tempore
Jinggoy Estrada vows to push for the creation of a hospital that
will meet the health needs of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and
their families through Senate Bill 421.
The eldest son of former
President Joseph Estrada also cited that the structure would, at the
very minimum, serve as an edifice of country’s appreciation
towards OFWs’ sacrifice, meant to sustain their families and the
national economy.
Estrada, chairman of the Senate
committee on labor, employment and human resources, said the OFW
hospital must be built as a way of assisting OFWs deal with the
rising value of the peso against the dollar.
“Our migrant workers have been
suffering economically, socially, physically. The government must
initiate policies in order to assist them in whichever way
possible,” Estrada said.
The senator, also chairman of the
joint congressional oversight committee on labor and employment,
said his proposal will make available health care service to all
migrant workers who are regular contributors of the Overseas Workers
Welfare Administration (OWWA), and their legal dependents.
Section 4 of his Senate Bill 421
also gives the proposed OFW hospital the task of ensuring that all
outgoing workers would be physically and psychologically fit before
leaving for work abroad.
Migrante, a migrant workers’
organization that also operate in key cities abroad, said having a
hospital devoted to OFWs’ health needs could “break control of
private clinics that are monopolizing required medical examination
for the most expensive fees.”
Estrada added that, once built,
the facility would complement the country’s Medical Care Program
to include preventive, promotive, diagnostic and rehabilitative
programs.
Estrada conceded that still many
issues need to be ironed out and resolved, such as opening it to
OFWs who are non-OWWA members, the hospital’s cost-effectiveness,
and the needed decentralization to reach OFWs and OFW families in
the provinces, among others.
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