Covid-19 deaths among OFWs in Saudi reach 107

Alonto said right now, Saudi Arabia is experiencing overcapacity in their hospitals as well as in morgues, especially that they now have around 160,000 cases of infection of Covid-19. (File Photo by Andrew Fackler/Flickr, CC BY-NC 2.0)

MANILA – Philippine Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Adnan Alonto reported Monday that 107 Filipinos died due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in the Middle Eastern country.

During a Laging Handa briefing, Alonto said they are in close coordination with the Saudi government on the disposition of human remains.

“Yun po yung ina-address natin (we are trying to address this) with the Saudi authorities and dito kasi, ordinarily ang body dito ay inililibing within 24 hours dahil yun po ang Islamic customs. Dun sa non-Muslim, nirerespeto nila yung disposition ng remains. In-assure kami na (here, normally, remains are buried within 24 hours from the time of death according to Islamic customs). For non-Muslims, they respect the disposition of remains, but they assured that) they would respect the customs,” he said.

Alonto said right now, Saudi Arabia is experiencing overcapacity in their hospitals as well as in morgues, especially that they now have around 160,000 cases of infection of Covid-19.

“Nag isyu po kasi ng regulation ang Saudi authorities na kapag Covid-related yung cause of death, yung (Saudi authorities issued a regulation that if the cause of death is Covid-19, the body should be disposed within 72 hours from the time the embassy is informed). So kailangan maayos kagad yung mga dokumento at mailibing kagad (so we have to immediately prepare all the proper documentation for the burial),” he said.

He added that while the Philippine Embassy already requested the Saudi government for an exemption, he later learned that based on the pronouncement of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF), Covid-19 related deaths in Saudi Arabia should be buried there.

Non-Covid related deaths

Alonto said during the briefing that at present, they also recorded some 246 non-Covid related deaths.

He said the recorded deaths were mostly due to natural causes.

“Iba-iba, natural causes mostly. Konti naman yung tinatawag natin na merong controversy. Meron ding mga crime-related na kakaunti (the causes vary, we have very little controversial cases. There are also crime-related ones but only a few), but most of non-Covid related deaths are natural causes”.

The embassy is now in close coordination with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).

He said the increased number in the non-Covid related deaths were mostly backlogs.

“Nung nagkaron ng almost three months na lockdown dito walang gumagalaw o lumilipad, nagkaron tayo ng backlog, yun yung largely naging cause (when we were placed under lockdown for three months, all flights were canceled, and that was the cause of the backlog).”

Alonto added that planes can only accommodate not more than three human remains per flight.

No discrimination

Meanwhile, Alonto denied allegations that Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) are experiencing discrimination and are being denied admission to hospitals in Saudi Arabia.

He said he already had a meeting with the Saudi Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) to discuss and clarify the issue of discrimination on Filipinos.

“I was assured by our MOH and MFA officials na wala naman ganun talaga (there is no such thing) based on race. What is true and I can attest to this is talagang (really) overloaded overcapacity ang mga hospitals lalung-lalo na ngayon (especially) that they have almost 160,000 infected cases sa buong kaharian (in the whole kingdom) so you would imagine talaga na yung mga ospital even the clinics are full,” he said.

Alonto said the Saudi government has contracted small clinics as additional medical facilities to treat Covid-19 infected patients for free and that the embassy was given a list of those facilities.

The Philippine Embassy also had a meeting with other labor-sending countries in Saudi like India and Bangladesh, and that citizens of these countries have the same experience.

For their part, what the embassy is doing, he said, is concentrate on giving OFWs in Saudi some self-help measures they can do at home in case they do not feel well or are undergoing self-quarantine.

Despite the number of deaths, Alonto said the recovery rate of the Filipinos infected with the dreaded virus in Saudi Arabia is at 60 percent.

Meanwhile, Alonto added that 16 Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) and embassy staff in Saudi Arabia tested positive for Covid-19, and are now confined in hospitals.

The Philippine Embassy is now conducting its second wave of testing.

“Just to make sure na hindi natin ma-compromise yung transacting public kasi nag-open na ang embassy for very limited transaction kasi kailangan na ngayon yung ating mga consular services (this is to make sure that we don’t compromise the safety of our transacting public since the embassy is now open although we have limited consular service operation),” he said

Alonto said families of OFWs who died in Saudi Arabia may coordinate with OWWA to have updates on the benefits that they will receive.

“Pagka OFW documented, pag sila’y namatay dito may karampatang end of service benefits, yun po’y nakukuha sa kumpanya, depende kung ilang taong nanilbihan yung ating kababayan, may computation yan at kung may insurance policy inaasikaso yan ng embahada para makolekta yan (If an OFW is documented, they are entitled to receive an end of service benefits from their company in case of death. It depends on the length of service. If they have insurance policies, the embassy does the follow up to be able to collect these),” Alonto said.