ANGELES CITY – The Bureau of Immigration (BI) is once again the butt of complaints from arriving passengers at the Clark International Airport (CIA) after a passenger who suffered hypotension or a sudden drop in blood pressure while in flight was made to fall in line at the immigration counter upon arrival.
According to George David, who came to the CIA on board an Emirates Airlines flight from Dubai on Nov. 1, the passenger who was already in his senior years originated from Germany and was coming home to Candon, Ilocos Sur with his wife when he suffered hypotension (50/30 blood pressure reading) while in-flight.
David said his wife Ana, a medical doctor, attended to the passenger after flight attendants requested for a doctor on board. David said his wife noticed a patch on the passenger’s body which indicated that his doctors in Germany were remotely monitoring his condition.
David said as soon as they arrived at the CIA, the elderly passenger was placed on a wheelchair and made to fall in line at the immigration counter which had only three active counters – one for foreign passport-holders and two for returning Filipinos.
Department of Tourism Regional Director Ronnie Tiotuico, who was present when David was narrating what happened, said the ailing passenger should have been brought to the infirmary and the BI personnel should have been the one to attend to the passenger or they could have gotten his passport as well as his travelling companions to expedite their immigration processing.
The ailing passenger as well as his travelling companions should not have been made to follow regular procedure since they have a medical emergency, Tiotuico said. However, BI-Clark head supervisor Ma. Rhodora Abrazaldo clarified that the passenger was met by paramedics as well as an immigration officer “off ramp” and was assisted by the ground crew of Emirates Airlines.
She said the paramedics determined that the passenger “was okay to go” and was placed on a wheelchair and wheeled to the entrance going to the terminal which might have looked to the other passengers that he was made to fall in line. She said the ailing passenger “was the first to be cleared at the immigration counter.”
“Our paramount objective is safety first” and it was determined that the passenger is not an emergency case, she said. If it was an emergency case, an ambulance will be on standby for the passenger, she added.
Abrazaldo said there were 14 BI personnel, including her, on that day which was a holiday. She said “at 3:30 pm, an overlap of two shifts even occurred to accommodate the passengers. Meanwhile, David observed that most of his more than 300 fellow passengers were from North Luzon and only very few were from Manila and even Central Luzon.
