Medical Care on Board Ships and Ashore.
SEC. 48. Medical Care on Board Ships and Ashore. - The shipowner shall provide adequate medical facility, equipment, paraphernalia, and medical supplies, including medicines on board, and shall ensure access to shore medical facilities, including mental health services for seafarers, as well as corresponding medical or trained personnel who shall provide first aid and medical care.
The medicine chest and its contents, including but not limited to, common emergency and maintenance medications prescribed by licensed physicians to seafarers during PEME, medical equipment, and the medical guide on board shall be maintained and inspected regularly to ensure that labeling, expiry dates, and conditions of storage of all medicines and the directions for their use are checked, and all equipment are functioning properly.
The shipowner shall ensure that seafarers have access to medical care including assessment, counseling, psychotherapy, and other forms of mental health intervention in relation to the treatment of any mental or behavioral disorder; necessary medicines; therapeutic appliances; board and lodging away from home for any illness or injury, hospitalization, and dental treatment until the sick or injured seafarer has recovered or until the sickness or incapacity has been declared of a permanent character. The medical care shall be at no cost to the seafarer.
A seafarer shall have the right to consult a qualified physician or dentist without delay in ports of call, where practicable.
The health protection and medical care under this section shall be provided at no cost to the seafarer, in accordance with rules and regulations issued for this purpose,
Protection of Seafarers from Epidemics, Pandemics, or Other Public Health Emergencies.
SEC. 49. Protection of Seafarers from Epidemics, Pandemics, or Other Public Health Emergencies. -
(a) Seafarers shall be covered by adequate insurance for protection from health emergencies and shall have access to prompt and adequate medical care while on board, including medical advice and confidential helplines on physical and mental health by radio or satellite communications, free of charge and available twenty-four (24) hours a day.
(b) Shipowners shall institute measures on health emergency prevention in accordance with flag state health regulations and World Health Organizations (WHO) guidelines, including necessary disinfection, decontamination, deratting, or other measures necessary to prevent the spread of infection or contamination.
(c) Seafarers who exhibit symptoms or contract illness shall be properly isolated and treated pursuant to established guidelines of the flag state and by the WHO.
(d) In ports of call, seafarers in need of medical care shall have access to medical facilities onshore.
(e) Seafarers who have contracted diseases of international concern or which cause global health emergency or are otherwise in isolation, precautionary or otherwise, shall be entitled to paid sick leave or sickness benefits as long as they are incapacitated to work, and the expense for medical care and board and lodging shall be borne by the shipowner.
In appropriate cases, the transit of seafarers joining ships from the Philippines shall be facilitated and exempted from travel-related, health-related, or movement restrictions.
Financial Security System to Assist Seafarers in Case of Injury and Other Causes.
SEC. 50. Financial Security System to Assist Seafarers in Case of Injury and Other Causes. - In accordance with the MLC 2006, as amended on financial security for vessels, the shipowner shall provide an expeditious and effective financial security system to assist seafarers in the event of their abandonment and to assure compensation for contractual claims in the event of sickness, injury, or death occurring while they are serving under a seafarer's employment contract, or arising from their employment under such agreement.
SEC. 51. Insurance Coverage. The provisions on compulsory insurance for agency-hired workers under Section 37-A of Republic Act No. 8042, as amended by Republic Act No. 10022, shall continue to apply, at no cost to seafarers: Provided, That the minimum insurance coverage stated therein shall be issued by insurance companies duly registered with the Insurance Commission to ensure and facilitate claims of seafarers based on the section's "no contest, no fault or negligence" clause. This insurance coverage is without prejudice to the insurance policy issued or secured by the shipowners, over and above the minimum coverage, as an added protection to seafarers in accordance with international standards and practices.
Source: Supreme Court E-Library, Republic of the Philippines. Philippine laws are public documents (works of the government).
