Overseas Filipino worker Baikan Musa has been in a hospital in Dubai for almost a year now. An organization of Filipino migrants has been putting pressure on the Philippine government to provide assistance to the victim.
BY BULATLAT
MIGRANT WATCH
Volume VIII, No. 26, August 3-9, 2008
The chapter of Migrante International in United Arab Emirates received a case endorsement from its counterpart chapter in Qatar chapter regarding an OFW who has been in a hospital in Dubai for almost a year now.
Nhel Morona, Migrante-UAE secretary general, identified the OFW as Baikan Musa. Musa who does not have anyBaikan Musa identifying documents with her when she was rushed to Rashid Hospital. A few days later, someone came up and identified her.
“Sad to say, we have been informed that until now, Musa could not talk so we could not get relevant information from her, including what happened. She is in a state of paralysis,” Morona added.
Morona criticized the Department of Foreign Affairs in Pasay and the Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs (OUMWA) for their ‘dilly-dallying’ on Musa’s case.
“We suspect that if Migrante did not bring the case to the attention of the OWWA [Overseas Workers Welfare Administration] in Dubai, they would not be working hard for Musa’s immediate repatriation. She should be given proper medical treatment in the Philippines,” Morona added.
He said that their group informed the OWWA office in Dubai about Musa. The OWWA is facilitating the repatriation of Musa and making the arrangements for her confinement at the Philippine General Hospital.
Migrante said that OWWA should shoulder all the expenses for the hospitalization and treatment of Musa, regardless of the latter’s status as an OFW. (Bulatlat.com)
