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| Adelfa Melosantos takes selfie at the Coast Guard testing center at Palacio de Maynila on |
A Filipina helper who is supposed to fly to Hong Kong this Sunday, Aug 2, has had her booking cancelled due to uncertainty over whether her swab test result would be available by then.
Another maid scheduled to fly out Saturday realized she had made
an error on her swab test personal information form. She also found out too
late that she must have other requirements, such as an overseas employment
certificate.
A third who is due to fly out tomorrow could have complied
with the pre-boarding requirements, but was just told today that her flight had
been cancelled.
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| Pindutin para sa detalye |
Cel Lazaro, who is supposed to fly to Hong Kong on Sunday to
join her new employer, changed her travel plans after the Medical City
Hospital Ortigas Ave , Pasig
That’s because the hospital could not guarantee that the
test result could be issued by Aug. 1, and have it certified as required, by a Department
of Health doctor, so it would be useless to test her today.
Lazaro said the hospital could only issue a test result
between three and five days, which will not allow her to meet Hong Kong’s
regulation that the swab test must have been carried out no earlier than 72
hours before her flight.
The new restriction, which took effect on Jul 25, requires
all travelers from the Philippines ,
Indonesia , India , Bangladesh ,Nepal , Pakistan
and South Africa
The original test result indicating the traveler’s name and
identity information (passport or HKID number) should be submitted, along with the laboratory’s
accreditation by the government.
On top of this, the traveler must show of a confirmed
booking in a Hong Kong hotel for at least 14
days for the mandatory quarantine on arrival.
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But the toughest requirement for most travelers, especially
domestic workers who have to travel far to get to Manila international airport, appears to be the 72-hour validity for the test result.
Most hospitals in Manila
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| An appointment is needed to get a swab test at Makati Med, which can release a result in 1-2 days |
The only hospitals who could guarantee a result of between
1-2 days are Makati Medical Center
and Chinese General
Hospital
The problem is so severe that some employment agencies in
Hong Kong have decided not to deploy workers in the Philippines
Lazaro said her agency in Manila
told her to go instead to St. Luke’s Hospital at Bonifacio Global
City
“Three days din po ang release ng resulta,” she said.
(The result will also take three days)
She said she would have preferred to go to Makati Med, even
if it charges Php8,150 for the test. However, her agency told her the hospital no longer provides some of the requirements she needed to show upon check-in.
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| Tunghayan ang isa na namang Kwentong Dream Love |
Lazaro said the fee was no problem as her new employer had
promised to reimburse her for the cost of the test, as well as pay for her
14-day hotel quarantine.
Another helper who is booked on an HK Airlines flight to Hong Kong tomorrow, Jul 31, has bigger problems.
She revealed she was tested on Tuesday, and could have
barely made it to boarding time, but her agency informed her today that the
flight had been canceled.
That means the money and effort she put into complying with
the tough requirements have been put to naught.
The third helper who is due to fly back to Hong
Kong Saturday, cancelled her booking with Cathay Pacific after
realizing late Wednesday that she mistakenly entered on her swab test form not
her passport number but her universal healthcare ID number.
Adelfa Melosantos said she was swabbed for free on Wednesday
at the Coast Guard testing center at Palacio de Maynila on Roxas Blvd. Chinese General Hospital
But on her way back to Nueva Ecija after the swab test at Palacio,
Melosantos, who will be working for a new employer in Hong
Kong , realized it was not her passport number that she had entered
on the form.
To complicate things, her agency told her only today that
she needed to pay an extra Php14,000, supposedly for an updated OEC, Overseas
Workers Welfare Administration membership, medical examination certificate and pre-departure
orientation seminar.
After being told at the end of the day about the hiccup, her
irate employer told the helper they would just hire a new agency to process her
papers.
