Filipino Nurses in Libya still in Harms Way – Continue to Work in Hospitals
It has been reported by the 2nd batch of Libyan OFWs who arrived yesterday that there are several Filipina nurses that are still working at Libyan hospitals treating injured civilians some of them reported chose to stay. This is a very heroic act of those who opted to stay despite evacuation efforts from the government. Surely, there are many injured people that needs Filipina nurses there today.
The reports came from the 97 Libyan OFWs who arrived yesterday. In an interview with the evacuees, they confirmed that some of their girlfriends are still there in government hospitals serving the Libyan government in times of crisis. They said that they simply cannot go out because of the unrest. So they chose to stay and attend to the sick and injured.
We are hoping the government will do something about our Pinay nurses in Libya soonest.
Two Filipina Nurses Alive! Confirmed Trapped in the Christchurch NZ Quake
Two nurses from Iloilo City were confirmed to be among those trapped and feared killed in the collapsed Caterbury Television (CTV) building, which collapsed on Feb. 22. The Filipina nurses by the name of Maria Louise Amantillo and Valquin Bensurto are flatmates of those who received mobile phone calls for help from the two who were buried in the rubble. Sadly, their friends could not do anything but wait for their rescue.
“Hindi ko na kaya (I can’t bear it anymore).” These words from Amantillo were one of the last phone conversations she had with her roommates hours after the 6.3-quake struck.
A graduate of the St. Paul University Iloilo, Louise is the second of four siblings of Linda and Alexander Amantillo. She left for New Zealand on Feb. 10, just 12 days before the tragedy, hoping to find work as a nurse. Filipino nurses Amelodin Disalongan, 24 and Joan Bunda, 24, said Amantillo had made more than 10 mobile phone calls to them between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. after the quake.
However, it has been six days already and the authorities have not heard from the victims through text messages. But the families and friends are hopeful that the two are still alive, they said in an interview.
They further stressed that the government reaction is too slow and that they feel they have no support. The families of the victims are not allowed to go to Christchurch by the government for security reasons and this has brought even more suffering to the families. They appealed to the New Zealand embassy to clear the travel of the families of the missing victims and to continue the search for her daughters.
The families really can’t do much at this point and they will leave it to the power of their prayers and God for a miracle.
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