By Daisy CL Mandap
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| OFWs are advised to go for regular medical check-ups to avoid getting seriously ill |
Another Filipina domestic worker has succumbed to stroke,
two days after lying comatose in hospital.
The worker identified only as Ruth A., reportedly died at United Christian
Hospital in Kwun Tong on
Dec. 4 due to massive bleeding in her brain.
She was given only a slim chance of surviving when she was
rushed there unconscious on Dec. 2.
Ruth was said to be 55 years old, and had worked for the
same employer in Hong Kong for 21 years.
She was the third Filipino worker to die from brain and
cardio-related illnesses in just a week.
There could be a fourth, according to Welfare Officer
Marivic Clarin, if the autopsy on a Filipino domestic worker who fell into
Victoria Harbour on Nov. 23 shows he also
suffered a stroke.
The worker named Edgar fell into the sea off Ngau Tau Kok
while windsurfing with a friend. His friend and other people aboard passing
boats tried to rescue him, but he was already unconscious when pulled out of
the water.
Edgar was declared dead on arrival at Ruttonjee Hospital.
He was 48.
On Nov. 27, two Filipina domestic workers, both relatively
young, died within hours of each other due to aneurysm.
The first, Alma, who was 48
years old, was declared dead on arrival at Ruttonjee Hospital
in Wanchai.
The second, Rachel, was just 41. She fell unconscious on Nov
26 after suffering a massive hemorrhagic stroke or brain aneurysm and was
rushed to Tuen Mun Hospital
where she died the next day.
Doctors reportedly told her employer that the bleeding in
her brain was so severe there was no chance that she would survive.
Clarin said the employers of both workers have been
cooperating with OWWA in arranging for the repatriation of the remains.
Both workers also have relatives in Hong
Kong who are coordinating the repatriation. Alma’s daughter and Rachel’s sister-in-law both
work here as domestic helpers.
However, no date has yet been set for the repatriation of
all three Filipina workers.
Edgar’s remains, on the other hand, are set to be flown home
on Dec. 15.
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Statistics compiled by OWWA's Clarin (center, in brown) show that
brain and heart-related diseases afflict HK OFWs the most |
Clarin has advised all OFWs to always look after their
health as Hong Kong tends to have a high rate
of illnesses among Filipino migrants compared with other host countries abroad.
A tally Clarin has made of cases reported to OWWA Hong Kong between
last year and this year shows that a total of 465 Filipino workers have sought
help after getting sick or injured.
Of this number, the biggest number involved cardio and
brain-related illnesses (mostly stroke and aneurysm) which had a total of 116
cases.
But the biggest spike in the number of illnesses pertained
to breast cancer, which more than doubled over the past year, from 5 in 2018 to
14 so far this year, for a 180% increase.
A total of 36 of gynecological-related cancer cases, such as
ovarian and cervical, were recorded over the same period. However, there was a
drop in the number of cases year-on-year, from 21 to 15.
Other cancer cases, such as that occurring in the blood or
colon, also went up significantly, from 16 to 33, for a 106% increase.
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