RIYADH: The Buraida-based Samahan ng mga Manggagawang Pilipino sa Gassim or Organization of Filipino Workers in Qassim (SAMPIGA) held its second medical mission in Hail last Friday. The organization handled 249 Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) during the mission.
"It is our pleasure indeed to be with compatriots in Hail. This is an opportunity for us to reach out to you so that we may know how we could be of better service to you," said Welfare Officer Eduardo Mendoza, Jr. of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in the Central Region (POLO-CRO) who was guest speaker during the event.
He also thanked SAMPIGA, which now boasts over 1,000 members, for having organized the mission and invited POLO-CRO to attend the various activities during the medical mission led by Youssef N. Lubid, executive vice president, since President Dionisio B. Tabuco Jr. is currently in the Philippines.
Mendoza expressed his hope that SAMPIGA will continue to serve the OFWs in Hail as well as in Qassim Region, as it is difficult for the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh as well as the POLO-CRO to immediately extend assistance to them because of distance. Riyadh is 375 km and 645 km from Qassim and Hail respectively.
Mendoza also thanked the group for the seminar on hypertension, adding this benefited the OFWs since many of them did not have health insurance. Of the 249 OFWs present, according to SAMPIGA officer Arnold G. Pineda, 182 received free medical consultations and 67 received other medical services, including dental extraction.
"They also received free drugs and medicines courtesy of Ahmed Abdullah Al-Rebdi, vice president for manufacturing and technical affairs of the Saudi Pharmaceutical Industries and Medical Appliances Corporation (SPIMACO)," Pineda said.
Pineda added that the group would also invite Al-Rebdi for the celebration of SAMPIGA's sixth anniversary to be held in Buraidah on March 9.
Lubid expressed his gratitude to all who were instrumental in the success of SAMPIGA's second mission in Hail, adding that the group's top management will continue to count on them if and when the group holds a third mission in the region. SAMPIGA held its first medical mission in Hail in November, 2000.
Lubid specifically thanked volunteer doctors, nurses and dentists who came from the Maternity & Children's Hospital, Primary Health Care Center; Buraidah Central Hospital--Dental Department and Badayah General Hospital; Guardians Brotherhood of Zulfi, Al-Rass and Unaizah; SAMPIGA officials and SPIMACO.
He also thanked Nanette S. Garcia and Stanley Agor who were the volunteer doctors SAMPIGA coordinator in Hail Edmund Nieto, as well as other volunteers from the region such the Royal Medical Complex, Salamat Medical Group, Al-Khaleej Clinic, ZamZam Clinic, and Yousof S. Cardenas of Trans-Fast Worldwide Money Transfer.
© Arab News 2012
