THE Philippine Overseas Employment Administration warned licensed recruitment agencies and medical clinics catering to OFWs not to be duped by an online registration system allegedly operated by a certain Gulf Cooperation Council Ministry of Health.
In an advisory, the POEA said the Department of Health has denied that it approved the scheme that requires the applicant to pay a registration fee of US$10 or equivalent to P500 for the provision of Pre-Employment Medical Examination.
The DoH prohibits the Medical Facilities for Overseas Workers and Seafarers from participating or using the said online scheme.
The POEA said that under Department Circular No. 0371, the DoH said that “since the online registration system charges an additional fee to the OFW applicants and can be restrictive to few selected DOH-accredited OFW clinics, it may be construed as another form of decking and monopoly of health examination services for Filipino migrant workers.”
The POEA advised the public and DoH-accredited clinics for OFWs to report to the DoH any activity pertaining to the said online registration system.