No discrimination of Pinoys with suspected Covid-19 in S. Arabia

The assurance, he said, was made by the Saudi government after related complaints among Filipinos surfaced about late response and non-admittance to hospitals. (File photo: Tai’s Captures/Unsplash)

MANILA – There is no discrimination against Filipino workers with suspected coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in Saudi Arabia, Philippine Ambassador in Riyadh Adnan Alonto said Wednesday.

The assurance, he said, was made by the Saudi government after related complaints among Filipinos surfaced about late response and non-admittance to hospitals.

“I was assured by our host government na wala pong diskriminasyon na nangyayari dito. Ito po ay largely because of the numbers of infection cases medyo talagang hindi nila masyadong expected na tataas pa ng 100,000 (I was assured by our host government that there is no discrimination going on here. This is largely because of the numbers of infection cases and because they did not expect it would exceed 100,000),” he said in a Laging Handa briefing.

Alonto said a ranking Health Ministry official gave the assurance that suspected Filipino Covid-19 patients are being treated.

“It’s just that they have a triage. It’s not automatic that the patient will be brought to a hospital. It would depend on the condition whether he/she would be placed in a facility for quarantine first,” he said in Filipino.

The envoy also assured that the embassy is working to repatriate those without the capacity to purchase their own tickets back to Manila. Alonto said there are over 3,000 Filipinos hoping to secure a seat in the special flights arranged by the embassy.

“More than 3,000 OFWs na ang nakalista na (have been listed) and we’re going to send them home based on a first-come-first-served basis,” he said.

Saudi Arabia’s Covid-19 tally is one of the highest in the Middle East at over 105,000. The latest data from the World Health Organization also revealed that at least 746 people in the Gulf state have died of the disease.

In the same press briefing, Alonto said the embassy is bringing up the case of Marcelo Tanyag III to Saudi’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development.

Tanyag was a Filipino worker with symptoms of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) who died in Saudi Arabia after his employer’s alleged neglect.

“We’re going to meet also with their ministry of labor to bring forth this matter because if what we heard and saw in the video are true (then) that constitute employer neglect at gusto nating panagutin ang employer sa mga nangyari sa kanya (and we’ll want them to take responsibility of what happened),” he said.

Tayag’s son Frinj, earlier quoted in a GMA News Online report, said his father started exhibiting symptoms on May 23 that lasted for five days. On May 28, doctors recommended that he be sent to a hospital.

However, Tanyag’s Egyptian villa supervisor allegedly did not follow the order and instead placed him in a separate building for isolation. On June 1, Tanyag’s family received a call that he died.