CITY OF SAN FERNANDO- An ailing 41-year-old female worker has reportedly been abandoned by her employer in a hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia with her bill of over P1 million increasing by some P15,600 daily at the facility which, ironically, has refused to release her because of her debt.
Andrew Ociones, president of Migrante-Saudi Arabia, emailed to the reporter some information on the fate of Aida Gutierrez, a native of Guimba, Nueva Ecija, who works as a fast machine sewer in Jeddah.
Ociones said Gutierrez was rushed last Oct. 2 to the Saudi German Hospital in Jeddah where she was diagnosed with “diabetes mellitus, chronic renal failure and disturbed conscious level”.
He quoted Gutierrez’s sister Precy, also a worker in Jeddah,as saying that a doctor had recommended CT scan on the cranial area of her sister, but that this has not been done amid their unpaid hospital bill which continues to rise daily.
Ociones said that the latest bill indicated Gutierrez already owed the hospital about P1,060,000 and that her continued stay in the hospital adds up some 1,200 Saudi Rials or about P15,600 to their dues daily.
He said that Gutierrez’s employer whom he did not identify, initially helped in hospital expenses but later abandoned her amid the considerable hospital cost. Gutierrez, he noted, was not entitled to any medical insurance by his employer.
Ociones said that the Philippine consulate in Jeddah extended only “token” assistance to Gutierrez, but he did not elaborate.
“We were informed by Precy and other sympathetic Filipino workers there that they sought help from the office of the OWWA (Overseas Workers Welfare Administration) at the Philippine consulate (in Jeddah) but the response has so far been mere promises,” he said.
Ociones said that OFWs in Jeddah have started a fund-raising campaign to help Gutierrez, but he expressed doubt that enough could be raised.
He lamented the lack of government support for Gutierrez, as he blamed her fate on the government’s transferring medical service funds from the OWWA to the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) in 2004.
“In 2004, Pres. Arroyo ordered that OWWA Medicare moved to Philhealth and also ordered limitations on OWWA’s omnibus policies on health benefits for overseas Filipino workers,” he said.
These moves, he noted, deprived OFW’s like Gutierrez of enough medical benefits. “Gutierrez, in effect, was abandoned not only by her employer but also by her government that hails her as a modern-day hero,” Ociones added.
