THE HEALTH department on Thursday said that it is drafting an administrative order to establish a framework to ensure the safety of tourists in the country this year.
“We have an ongoing initiative by the Department of Health (DoH), which is to develop an administrative order on health in tourism strategic framework,” DoH Supervising Health Program Officer Haula Mohamad said in a Senate committee hearing.
“This framework aims to ensure the safety of tourists in the Philippines, regardless if it’s local or foreign,” she added.
Ms. Mohamad added that the health agency will draft the administrative order within the year.
She said that an interagency technical working group with the Tourism and Interior and Local Government departments would be created to support the creation of the framework.
“It’s very good to hear that this year (the DoH) will be coming out with an administrative order on a health and tourism strategic framework,” said Senator Ana Theresia N. Hontiveros-Baraquel. “We need not only a one-off reaction but more of a preventive approach which underlines with the Universal Health Care system that is implemented by the DoH in terms of health and safety tourism.
Ms. Hontiveros had earlier filed Senate Bill 2971, the Child Tourist Safety Act, otherwise called the Sandy’s Act. This is named after six-year-old Sandy Garovillas, who died from a jellyfish sting after failing to receive medical attention.
A separate incident in Zambales had also occurred where four-year-old Kiera Maningding had died from a jellyfish sting.
The bill seeks to prevent, mitigate and respond to risks affecting children and other visitors to Philippine tourist sites by ensuring proper access to medical and emergency services as well as life-saving equipment, medicine, and facilities. — Adrian H. Halili
