Del Rosario Pandiphil Inc, our correspondents in the Philippines, has provided us with the following information.
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Due to the prevalence of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in West Africa, the POEA Governing Board issued Resolution No. 14 Series of 2014 imposing a temporary suspension on the processing and deployment of newly-hired Overseas Filipino Workers to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Pursuant to the aforesaid Governing Board Resolution, the POEA issued Memorandum Circular. No. 07, Series of 2014 dated 11 August 2014 stating the following guidelines for shipping principals / employers, licensed manning agencies and seafarers as follows:
1. As a precaution, all shipping principals/employers with ships operating or calling on ports of the affected countries shall provide seafarers with masks, gloves, and goggles as necessary to limit the chance of contamination.
2. Seafarers shall be disallowed from availing of any shore leave and crew change shall not be allowed in any of the ports of the affected countries.
3. It shall be the responsibility of the ship master or the designated ship medical officer to report any case involving crewmembers with symptoms of EVD (those who have fever, headache, intense weakness, joint and muscle pains, and sore throat) to their principal/employer who in turn are required to coordinate with the appropriate international marine medical providers to manage an EVD contamination on board. Every precaution should be exercised to ensure that the spread of EVD is prevented.
4. Principals/employers/manning agencies are requested to consider and disseminate, as a matter of urgency, the following information to their ships and hired seafarers prior to their deployment:
a. The Master must ensure that the crew are aware of the risks, how the virus can be spread and how to mitigate the risk;
b. The ISPS Code requirements on ensuring that unauthorized personnel are not allowed to board the ship should be strictly enforced throughout the duration of the ship’s stay in port;
c. After departure, the crew should be aware of the symptoms and report any occurring symptoms immediately to the persons/authorities in charge of medical are onboard.
5. The POEA also requires principals, employers, and manning agencies to report any incident of EVD contamination on any of their ships. Reports should contain complete details of the crew affected and the actions taken by the company. They shall be submitted through e-mail to the Office of the POEA Administrator (admin_cacdac@poea.gov.ph) or to its Marketing Branch (marketing_poea@yahoo.com.ph), who in turn shall provide copies of the report to the Departments of Health and Foreign Affairs and the Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration.
6. Manning agencies are directed to include EVD in their Pre-Departure Orientation Seminars (PDOS) using the World Health Organization and Department of Health published information about the disease.
7. All concerned are directed to disseminate further advisories on EVD to alleviate fear among seafarers regarding the possible EVD contamination from the following agencies/organizations:
a. Department of Health (DOH) Ebola Advisory (Tagalog Version) https://www.healthpromo.doh.gov.ph/ebola-advisory-tagalog/
b. World Health Organization Ebola Virus Disease Fact Sheet No. 103 https://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/
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Member Alert is published by The Swedish Club as a service to members. While the information is believed correct, the Club cannot assume responsibility for completeness