At least 4,000 returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are stranded in Metro Manila due to delays in processing of their reverse transcription-polymerase reaction (RT-PCR) test, according to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
This after the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) stopped processing the swab samples of arriving OFWs when the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) failed to pay it over P960 million for the RT-PCR test it already conducted.
Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said they were unable to send the OFWs back to their home provinces since they are still waiting for their test results.
Delayed results
With the automated testing of PRC, he said, they are able to get the test result of OFWs in three to four days.
But since the government reverted to a manual scheme, it now takes beyond a week before the said results are released.
“That’s our problem, in terms of expenses and in terms of taking care of our OFWs,” Bello said.
After PRC stopped its RT-PCR testing, Bello said the number of OFWs they were able to send home in a day was reduced from 1,000 to 3,000, to just 300.
“So you can just imagine how many OFWs are now stranded in all the hotels in Metro Manila,” Bello said.
Automation attempts
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), which is in charge of the collection of swab samples from OFWs, said it is now trying to adopt the scheme used by PRC in its automated testing system.
Among the time-saving innovations used by PRC, PCG spokesperson Commodore Arman Balilo is the use of electronic case investigation form (CIF) and the bar codes for the swab samples.
“We already have instructions from Admiral George Ursabia, our commandant, to add more personnel to speed up the manual procedures and to assign IT (information technology) personnel to improvise the automation,” Balilo said in an interview in PTV.
Currently, he said each OFWs are being interviewed before their swab samples are taken to be sent to 12 hospitals to be processed.
The said medical facilities could be process 4,000 to 4,500 swab samples per day.
Partial payment
During his public address on Monday, President Rodrigo R. Duterte assured the government will pay the total amount owed by PhilHealth to PRC.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the government would more likely be able to pay about half of what it owes to PRC as soon as possible.
“We hope to settle at least 50 percent of that amount as soon as possible and the rest also within the reasonable time,” Roque said.
He noted the PhilHealth will have sufficient fund to pay PRC since the government could provide it additional funds under the Universal Healthcare Law.