Hurt OFW benefits from compulsory insurance coverage

MANILA, Philippines - An overseas Filipino worker (OFW), who was seriously injured while working on a foreign ship docked in a Belgium port, has extolled the amended law on migrant workers which saved him from huge financial costs.

In an exclusive interview at a Manila forum, Genaro Cerdan, 52, said that without the provision of the compulsory insurance coverage under the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act, he could not imagine how he could repay the huge costs of his treatment at a hospital in Belgium. His employer, Maersk Filipinas, shouldered the hospital bills of 20,000 euros and paid for his plane fare back to the Philippines. A nurse from Atlanta, Georgia also personally saw his treatment in Belgium as well as his travel needs.

The Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995 as amended by RA 10022 has a provision on mandatory insurance for migrants deployed by recruitment agencies.

The compulsory insurance covers accidental and natural death, permanent total disability, repatriation cost, subsistence allowance benefit, money claims, compassionate visit, medical evaluation, and medical repatriation.

Cerdan’s ordeal started after he fell from the ship’s tower while docked in Antwerp, Belgium. The fall was so serious that doctors advised him to take a total bed rest for at least a week. There was a possibility that he would be paralyzed for the rest of his life since a bone in his spinal column was broken.

To his relief, Cerdan got a call from Maersk Pilipinas informing him that the firm will shoulder all hospital bills, including his plane ticket. The manning agency even told him that an American nurse from Georgia, Atlanta is coming to Antwerp.

After a week at Sint Vincencius Hospital, Cerdan was transferred to Red Cross Hospital near the port, where a resident doctor eventually certified him fit to travel. By this time, the nurse also arrived.

“I was surprised when I boarded the plane from Brussels. In my 18-year as a seaman, it was my first time to fly business class. All my needs were taken care of with the assistance of my medical escort,” he said.

Cerdan is now recuperating from the accident. He could now walk. He is still undergoing therapy at St. Luke’s Medical Center. His medical insurance is effective up to 120 days from the day of accident. He continues to receive his salary up to the fifth month, as indicated in his contract.

Manning agencies buy insurance coverage from insurance companies like PhilCharter through the Philippines Accident Managers, Inc., a firm that issues and facilitates claims.