The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Accredited Medical Clinics Association (GAMCA) said Saturday it will review the reported surge in the number of medically unfit overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) even as it assured that these workers did not pass through its own referral decking system.

In an interview, GAMCA president Dr. Rodolfo Punzalan said the move is to eliminate doubts that the unfit workers were able to get clearances from its 17 clinics in Metro Manila.

"Right now we are gathering names of applicants who were repatriated and check if they are in our watchlist. If they are, then somebody has to be blamed for this,'' said Punzalan.

"We are also looking at five people who were suspected to have syphilis, HIV, and pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) but were declared fit to work by a different center. I already presented the names to the Saudi ambassador,'' he said.

According to Punzalan, the referral system is strictly enforced by all its clinics as part of its measures proposed under the GCC guidelines.

The names of unfit workers who have been screened by GAMCA clinics, he said, are included in its watchlist and could be easily detected in a press of a button.

He said applicants who may be suffering from infectious diseases, including H1N1 and sexually transmitted diseases such as syphilis and human immune-deficiency syndrome (HIV) among others are labeled as medically unfit.

“Unfortunately, there were several maneuvers made by some individuals or groups. Because they are not linked to our system, those we found unfit were transferred by unscrupulous individuals to a particular clinic in the South and later declaring them fit to work,'' said Punzalan.

"These individuals perform the medical tests in Manila in connivance with the agencies here, but the medical certificates are issued from GAMCA south — a clear violation of the GCC rules,'' he said.

Asked if the situation is alarming, Punzalan said the Saudi Embassy recently called on GAMCA to ensure that departing OFWs bound to the Middle East, particularly to Saudi Arabia, are tightly screened to avoid transmitting infectious diseases to the populace in their host countries.

The Saudi Embassy has also expressed alarm over the high number of H1N1 cases in the Philippines.

The report by the World Health Organization (WHO) about mounting HIV/AIDS cases in the country also bothered the embassy, prompting the latter to order GAMCA to stringently monitor the OFWs departing to the Kingdom.

Punzalan noted that since the decking system was put up, there has been a reduction in the number of repatriated workers with unfit status from their end.