A non-government organization (NGO) specializing on labor migration, warned medical clinics and recruitment agencies catering to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) not to fall for a scheme hatched allegedly by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Ministry of Health, which imposes a $10 online registration fee for every Middle East-bound OFW applicant.
“This online registration scheme appears to be a multi-million peso scam targeting our OFWs,” said Susan Ople, head of Blas F. Ople Policy Center, in a statement.
Ople said the online medical registration scheme would earn the GCC Ministry of Health at least P222 million per year. The Philippines deployed 333,671 newly hired workers to GCC member-countries in 2015 based on Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) data.
The Ople Center said OFWs bound for the Middle East were now being required to pay an extra $10 in registration fee online for a preemployment medical examination. The new requirement was allegedly imposed by the GCC Ministry of Health.