The Philippine embassy has deployed officials to monitor the health condition of Filipinos in hospitals in the Kingdom. Additionally, the embassy in Riyadh, the Consulate General in Jeddah, and the mobile unit of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in the Eastern Province have embarked on swine flu information campaigns, Ambassador Antonio P. Villamor said. “We started by conducting seminars in all the Filipino schools in the Kingdom,” Villamor said. “In Riyadh, our embassy doctor organized a forum attended by students, teachers and parents of Filipino schools.” A similar seminar was organized for teachers and parents of students from the three Filipino schools in Al-Khobar. It was held at Mohammed Dossary Hospital in Al-Khobar, in cooperation with their specialists, the ambassador said. The effort is to ensure that the 1.2 million Filipinos in the Kingdom are fully aware of swine flu and the precautions to take. Of particular concern is the large contingent of Filipino nurses in the Kingdom, the ambassador said. “The hospitals where they work have taken measures to protect the health of their personnel, including our Filipino nurses.” Villamor said labor officials have been assigned to monitor Filipino patients in hospitals all over the country. “Sick Filipino workers are visited and monitored, especially those who have serious ailments.” In the Eastern Province, one POLO official has been assigned to visit hospitals and assist Filipino patients. “We are also heeding the recent request of the Saudi Embassy in Manila to subject our workers bound for Saudi Arabia to thorough medical examinations, including the H1N1 test,” Villamor said. Every Filipino worker to be deployed overseas must pass rigid medical tests, he said.
