Airlines asking IATF to require medical clearance for passengers

June 11, 2020

The Joint Task Force COVID Shield on Thursday said airline company officials are requesting the Interagency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) to require a medical clearance certificate for all domestic passengers.

Police Lt. General Guillermo Eleazar said they had an online dialogue with airline companies and concerned air transportation agencies to improve implementation of the health safety protocols and prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) among travelers.

“The teleconference was aimed at threshing out issues, hasten the effectiveness of securing our air-riding clients and harmonizing the procedures in accordance with the guidelines of the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID),” Eleazar said.

Eleazar said it was agreed during the conference that a recommendation will be made to require all airline passengers to secure and show a medical clearance certificate before they are allowed to board the plane.

He said the letter request from the airline industry stakeholders will be coursed by the JTF COVID Shield to Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, the IATF-MEID vice chairperson.

“In voicing out their request, they said that the medical clearance certificate will be a way of also helping the Local Government Units in the implementation of their respective health safety protocols,” he added.

Representatives from the airline companies and LGUs agreed that the requirement for all airline passengers to obtain a medical clearance certificate before boarding the plane is a sense of security to other passengers who complied with the requirement to get a travel authority.

The JTF commander said  those classified as authorized persons outside residence have to show their identification cards or any documents that they are connected to a certain company for their travel provided that the travel is work-related.

It was recalled that a medical clearance certificate is the requirement for the issuance of a travel authority.

The medical clearance certificate is a requirement for all airline passengers as agreed during the meeting and would also serve as peace of mind to the LGU-destination that all arriving travelers are safe from COVID-19.

While protocols of the LGU-destination have still to be followed by the arriving travelers, it was also agreed during the meeting that a medical clearance certificate would somehow expedite and facilitate the process of compliance on local quarantine rules.

The medical certificate should be issued by the city or municipal health office of LGU-origin, or Department of Health-accredited clinics and hospitals. Ella Dionisio/DMS