Migrant workers returning to western Mindanao no longer have to compete for general hospital beds when they need care. A five-bed, fully air-conditioned ward built exclusively for them began operating at the Zamboanga City Medical Center on Tuesday, July 21, the first arrangement of its kind anywhere in the Zamboanga Peninsula.
Eligibility extends past the region’s own provinces. Workers based in Sulu and Tawi-Tawi may also be admitted, widening the reach of a facility housed in a tertiary government hospital along Dr. Evangelista Street in Sta. Catalina.
Three agencies carried the project: the Department of Health, the Department of Migrant Workers, and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.
Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac presided over the opening rites and framed the ward as recognition of what Filipinos working abroad give up.
Local and national officials filled out the guest list. Zamboanga City Mayor Khymer Olaso attended, along with DMW regional director for Region 9 Gay Iris Tancalagan, Dr. Dennis Dacayana of the Department of Health, and hospital administrator Dr. Afdal Kunting.
