Filipino workers preparing to take jobs across the Gulf could soon see a wider network of accredited clinics handling their mandatory health checks, following talks between Philippine labor officials and a visiting delegation from the Arabian Peninsula.
Meeting at the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) Central Office on August 4, 2026, representatives of the Gulf Cooperation Council Secretariat, the Gulf Health Council, and several embassies sat down with DMW officials to go over how the Wafid Program handles pre-departure medical examinations for workers headed to GCC member states. Wafid is a digital system used to book and manage the fitness-to-work medical screenings required before deployment to the Gulf.
Undersecretary Jainal Rasul, Jr. led the Philippine side. Beyond making the screenings easier for applicants to reach, DMW officials pressed the point that any expansion has to keep standards intact — protecting the credibility, integrity, and transparency of how appointments are booked, how facilities are chosen, and how fees are set across the board. They also called for close coordination with the Department of Health so that examinations are carried out only by clinics that are properly qualified and accredited.
During the session, the Gulf delegation walked officials through how the platform operates, from the way health facilities earn accreditation to the quality controls built into the process. The program currently runs in 21 countries, the Philippines among them. Twenty-four medical centers and clinics in the country are accredited at present, and the Council said it intends to grow that figure by bringing more facilities into the network.
Wafid sits under the Gulf Health Council, a regional body active in health matters since the 1970s. The screenings it manages are meant to confirm that incoming workers are medically fit and clear of communicable illnesses before their visas move forward — a requirement across Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman.
Also seated at the table were Assistant Secretaries Levinson Alcantara, Jules Ambito-Fermin, and Maria Regina Galias, along with Directors Jerome Yanzon, Paul Listones, and Celso Hernandez, and other DMW personnel. Rasul and his colleagues used the meeting to restate where the agency stands: the welfare and protection of Filipinos working overseas remains its priority.
