DOH sends experts to Middle East to check OFWs for MERS

MANILA, Philippines - Two experts on infectious diseases were sent to the Middle East yesterday to check on Filipinos in the wake of the continued spread of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus (MERS-CoV).

The experts are from the Department of Health (DOH)’s Research Institute for Tropical Medicine.

Speaking to reporters, DOH spokesman Lyndon Lee Suy said the experts were tasked to evaluate the status of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the Middle East after another Filipino died from the virus last week.

“They will look into selected hospitals to see why Filipinos were getting infected,” he said. 

“They will see if (hospitals) practice infection control and if they provide (their workers) with personal protective equipment.”

Lee Suy said the experts will also sit down with their counterparts in hospitals in the region to determine how the working condition of OFWs could be improved to protect them from MERS-CoV.

“They will see if they can still meet with the Filipino communities there to check their concerns regarding MERS-CoV,” he said. “They are expected to come back on Sunday.”

Lee Suy said the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) prepared the itinerary, but the experts will be visiting hospitals in Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.

“We are trying to find ways how we can contact our workers there if there is no official statement (from the host country),” he said.

The government is concerned that many Filipino workers would contract the virus as they comprise more than 50 percent of hospital personnel, he added.

The DOH has asked recruitment agencies through the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) to check on their recruits at least once a week to help the government in monitoring them.

“We are also suggesting to our recruitment agencies if they can work it out with the employers that those health workers that will be assigned to take care of MERS-CoV patients do not have other (health) problems so they won’t be at risk,” he said. 

Lee Suy said the government is also coordinating with authorities in Middle East in   the scheduling of the Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca in October.

“There will be a big delegation of Filipinos so the Philippines is waiting for news from the Middle East because they, I think, are coming up with strategy on how to prevent MERS-CoV infection,” he said.

Delegates will be encouraged to limit their movements if they want to tour the region after the pilgrimage, he added. 

Five Filipino health workers in hospitals have already died from MERS-CoV.

The latest victim was a nurse who died last week in Saudi Arabia.