CITY OF SAN FERNANDO---The country’s first Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) Hospital in the City of San Fernando, Pampanga is now under the direct supervision and control of the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW).

This, after the House of Representatives on Monday passed House Bill 8325 or the “Overseas Filipino Workers Hospital Act.”

House Bill 8325 mandates the OFW Hospital to serve as a referral facility for repatriated OFWs needing medical assistance.

The HB also ensures the hospital's participation in the provincial and inter-regional healthcare provider networks to allow for a seamless and coordinated referral system for the medical repatriation program in accordance with Republic Act No. 11223 or the Universal Health Care Act.

The OFWH is expected to provide 24/7 telehealth services to migrant workers and their families, pre-employment medical examination for OFWs, strengthen health surveillance through the provision of a post-employment or post-arrival medical examination for OFWs.

It will also support universities, research institutions, and other hospitals or medical facilities in their studies on health-related concerns of OFWs.

Under the bill, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) is mandated to ensure that existing health benefits and medical assistance programs are strengthened for OFWs, their qualified dependents, OWWA contributors and the general public.

All other agencies, departments, bureaus, offices, or instrumentalities of the government, including government-owned or -controlled corporations, are also mandated to render assistance to the OFWH for the effective implementation of the measure.

The OFW Hospital here is a seven-story, 100-bed secondary level government hospital, intended to provide medical care and health services to OFWs and the immediate members of their family.

The facility conducts medical examinations to ensure the physical and mental capability of would-be overseas contract workers duly covered by an approved job order; and will serve as primary referral hospital for repatriated OFWs in need of medical services and assistance.

Sitting in a 1.5-hectare land donated by the provincial government of Pampanga, the construction of the hospital began in 2021 and started operations as a polyclinic on May 2, 2022 and then the following months of that year admitted in-patients after the DOH granted the facility a license to operate.