Working as a domestic helper in a foreign country is perhaps one of the most difficult jobs for an overseas Filipino worker (OFW). Aside from dealing with homesickness and dealing with strict and mostly inconsiderate employers, OFWs also face the challenges of their health conditions while working abroad. Health insurance is not a part of their mandatory benefits though few employers give this to their helpers.
In Hong Kong (HK) alone, the latest survey conducted in December 2017 showed that there were approximately 200, 000 Filipino domestic helpers. This number grows each month expectedly as more and more Filipinos are seeking employment abroad defying some of the inevitable circumstances that may happen like getting sick and the inability to go home for treatment.
This happened to a 35-year-old Filipino domestic worker, Maristel P. Pepito who passed away on February 18, 2019 in Tai Po due to lupus as reported by the consulate officials in HK. Pepito was married and had three children and from Baybay, Leyte. She died at the Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital in Tai Po.
The official who gave the report said, “Her husband and sibling were supposed to come over from the Philippines to visit her but she passed away.” She explained that the consulate was coordinating with concerned officials to obtain her death certificate and with the hospital where she was admitted to rule out the exact cause of her death.
The initial report showed that Pepito was first hospitalized in January and doctors said that she was diagnosed with lupus. Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) officers visited her in the hospital before she was discharged on February 5.
Days after her discharge, Pepito was brought back to the hospital on February 16 because health condition deteriorated. As reported, she suffered from pulmonary hemorrhage and her lupus worsened resulting to acute pneumonia.
The official said that she was brought to the ICU (intensive care unit) and OWWA officers visited her again on February 17 but unfortunately, she died the following day. The official said that the repatriation of her remains to the Philippines was well coordinated with her employer, agency, and her family.
Source: Hong Kong News; Image Credit: Google
Be the first to comment