Clinics confirm rise of HIV-AIDS cases among OFWs

MANILA, Philippines -- A group of medical clinics examining hundreds of thousands of prospective overseas Filipino workers applying for jobs in the Midde East confirmed on Sunday a Department of Health report about the rise in the cases of HIV-AIDS among OFWs.

The GCC Accredited Medical Clinics Association-Philippines (GAMCA), in a statement, said its 17 members recorded 19 cases of HIV-AIDs from January to June 2010, compared to just 21 positive cases for the whole of 2009.

GAMCA is tasked by the health ministries of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council—namely Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait—to administer medical examinations for OFWs applying for work visas in compliance with strict GCC medical standards for expatriate workers.

Dr. Rodolfo Punzalan, GAMCA president, said the association has been ensuring the strict observance of the protocol in ferreting out HIV-AIDS cases among OFWs applying for jobs in the GCC countries.

The GAMCA clinics process 12,000 to 15,000 job applicants each month. An HIV/AIDS test costs P2,580, and the result is usually available within three days. A positive test result will be submitted to the GAMCA central laboratory for confirmation, the result of which will take two more weeks.

“The GAMCA central office assures that all our accredited clinics are closely coordinating with the DOH, through our STD/AIDS Cooperative Central laboratory, in strictly implementing the AIDS/HIV testing procedure for all OFWs,” Punzalan said.

The doctor said all cases found to be reactive in the screening method done twice within a span of 14 days were referred to the DOH laboratory for confirmatory tests subject to strict confidentiality rules for those OFWs found to be HIV positive.

“We’re assuring recruitment agencies that OFWs found to be infected with AIDS, tuberculosis, Hepatitis B and C, and syphilis will be on a ‘watch list” among all Gamca clinics to make sure these workers cannot enter the GCC countries,” PUnzaln said.

The GAMCA president, however, warned that several thousand OFWs by-passed the GAMCA watch list system from October 2009 to April, 2010 through some “rogue clinics” that misrepresented themselves as GAMCA members.

He said this should be addressed by the health and labor departments with the rising cases of HIV/AIDS cases among OFWs.

Punzalan estimated that the 8,000 to 10,000 OFWs were able to work in the GCC countries bypassing GAMCA clinics. He said such OFWs would be sought by local health agencies, given medical exams, and immediately repatriated to the Philippines if detected positive for any infectious disease.

The GCC regulations provide that non-GAMCA medical clinics in the Philippines that produced test results will be fined US$1,000. The clinic and the recruiter would also shoulder the repatriation of sick workers and the costs of recruiting replacement workers, he said. - Jerome Aning, Philippine Daily Inquirer, July 25, 2010