Envoys, foreign service execs meet to tackle MERS

MANILA, Philippines - Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Jesus Yabes has convened a special meeting of the ambassadors, consuls general and other heads of Philippine foreign service posts in the Middle East, Africa and other nearby countries to discuss the government’s response to the threats posed by the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-coronavirus (MERS-CoV), ebola virus and similar viruses.

Recent reports of some Filipino medical workers testing positive for MERS-CoV in the United Arab Emirates have highlighted the health risks to thousands of Filipinos in the Middle East.

Upon the directive of Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, the special meeting was held on the sidelines of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA)’s regional workshop on Trafficking in Persons for posts in the Middle East and Africa.

The special meeting’s agenda included a briefing on MERS-CoV and ebola virus, a survey of the public health landscape in the host countries and possible effects of the viruses on overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), and a review of individual and regional contingency plans in the event of a pandemic.

“The DFA’s goal is two-fold – to safeguard the health and safety of our countrymen who are in the affected countries and to ensure that these communicable and fatal viruses do not spread,“ Yabes said.

Some of the critical points raised were securing access to health treatment for OFWs, enforcement of adequate protective measures for members of the Philippine foreign service and other government personnel at posts, strategies to contain the spread of such illnesses and efficient coordination with the World Health Organization (WHO) and other concerned agencies.

Although the DFA is not barring OFWs from returning to the Philippines, it reiterated its advice that those who are originating from or transiting in high-risk areas and who were identified to have been in close contact with somebody suspected to be infected with MERS-CoV, should undergo testing and wait for negative results before pushing through with their travel plans.