By Vir B. Lumicao
 |
| OFWs are advised to check with doctors if they're fit to join hikes |
A Filipina helper is fighting for her life in hospital after
collapsing and falling into a coma while on a hike with friends on one of Hong Kong ’s mountains on Sunday, Feb 17.
Rosalie V. Nituda, 42 years old, was rushed to hospital by
an ambulance team after her hiking buddies called for help immediately after
she lost consciousness.
Labor Attaché Jalilo dela Torre is urging hikers to consult with
doctors before embarking on a hike to avoid similar incidents.
“We are concerned about the incident where a mountain hiker
collapsed while hiking and is now comatose,” Labatt Dela Torre said in response
to an online inquiry.
“I urge hikers in the community to first consult your doctor
before undergoing such strenuous activity. Mountain climbing is no walk in the
park – one needs to be physically and mentally fit for it,” he said.
He said officers of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office and
the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration will visit Nituda at the hospital
this week to check on her condition.
Nituda is reported to be on her second contract with her
current employer.
The employer went to the POLO on Wednesday and reported the
incident. She had gone earlier to the Consulate’s assistance to nationals
office but reportedly refused to identify the victim, herself or the hospital.
“The employer did not want to give details, including which
hospital the worker was taken. She came here looking for OWWA, so, I just referred
her to OWWA,” said an ATN officer.
The employer only said doctors in the hospital had operated
on the helper’s brain, after she collapsed while hiking with friends at
noontime on Sunday.
Hong Kong was cloudy that day, with showers in the morning
and temperatures ranging from 18 to 20 degrees Celsius.
The weather was far cooler than a day earlier, when a 45-year-old
local male hiker also collapsed at noontime on Devil’s Peak above Yau Tong in
East Kowloon after calling police and complaining that he was dizzy, media
reports said. The mercury was at 26 degrees, unusually hot for this time of the
year.
The man was taken to Pamela Youde
Nethersole Eastern
Hospital
