The approval of a bill seeking to establish and institutionalize the Overseas Filipino Workers Hospital is being pushed by Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez, framing it as a concrete way to repay what the country owes its “modern heroes” with better, more reliable healthcare.

“Our OFWs carry our economy on their backs. This is one way to recognize their contribution to our country. By ensuring that they and their relative and family could access quality healthcare,” Romualdez said on Sunday.

He said it can be done by establishing an OFW hospital, an institution that will cater to OFWs to their medical needs before they leave and arrive the country.

House Bill (HB) No. 7227, or the OFW Hospital Act, was filed by Romualdez along with Tingog Rep. Jude A. Acidre.

It seeks to establish the OFW Hospital as a Level III hospital in the City of San Fernando, Pampanga under the direct supervision and control of the Department of Migrant Workers, with services geared primarily toward OFWs and their qualified dependents.

It builds on the policy direction already set by Executive Order (EO) No. 154, which ordered the establishment of an OFW Hospital and an inter-agency committee to support it.

Under the bill, the hospital’s mandate is not limited to bedside care, but designed as a full-service facility that can cover the needs of migrants before deployment, while on contract, and upon return, reflecting the reality that the risks OFWs face do not end when they come home, and often surface after years of strenuous work abroad.

The proposed law directs the facility to provide comprehensive healthcare services to migrant workers, including Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) contributors whether active or inactive, their legal dependents, and even the general public, while clarifying that nothing in the measure prevents the hospital from accommodating non-OFW patients as capacity allows. 

It also positions the hospital as a referral facility for repatriated OFWs needing medical assistance, and ties its operations to a seamless and coordinated referral system consistent with the Universal Health Care Act, an element backers say is crucial for distressed workers who return with urgent conditions and limited time to navigate a fragmented health system.

For his part, Acidre said the goal is to build a system that treats migrant health as a standing responsibility of government, not as a series of ad hoc responses that depend on who is in office or what issue is trending at the moment.

“This is a long-term and permanent service to all of our OFWs and their families. Sa laki ng kontribusyon nila sa ating bansa at ekonomiya, kulang pa itong kapalit. But it is really a very good start if we want to honor our heroes,” Acidre said.

He also said the bill answers a long-standing gap in migrant welfare by giving the Department of Migrant Workers direct supervision and control of a hospital built for the unique risks of overseas work, from occupational disease to stress-related illness that often goes untreated until it becomes severe. 

Among its standout provisions are the hospital’s research and training mandates, including scientific studies on the prevention and treatment of occupational diseases common to OFWs, and training programs for medical and allied health professionals focused on occupational and migrant health, which proponents say can lift standards beyond one facility and improve the broader system that receives returning workers.

The bill also requires the hospital to provide 24/7 telehealth services for migrant workers and their families, with the option to extend support through Philippine foreign posts or labor offices to help assess and manage distressed OFWs while awaiting repatriation, a feature framed as both practical and lifesaving for workers who cannot easily access trusted medical guidance overseas.

To cover the full cycle of migrant health, the measure also mandates the OFW Hospital as a site for pre-employment medical examinations and to help strengthen health surveillance through post-employment or post-arrival examinations, connecting medical screening to prevention, early detection, and better reintegration outcomes.

On implementation, the bill assigns the Department of Migrant Workers the lead role in administration, planning, staffing, and engagement with OFW organizations, while the Department of Health is directed to provide technical assistance, help with capital outlay support, and monitor compliance with hospital standards, including arrangements for specialists from government hospitals to hold clinics at the OFW facility and the establishment of OFW centers or wards in other DOH-retained hospitals.

Finally, the bill provides that initial funding will come from appropriations of concerned agencies, with subsequent requirements to be programmed in the annual General Appropriations Act, as supporters press the case that an OFW-focused hospital should not be vulnerable to shifting priorities once public attention moves on.