Despite gruelling chemotherapy and radiotherapy sessions, Favorito said she was grateful to her employer for covering her medical expenses and arranging for her husband to fly out to Hong Kong.

Her elder sister, who also works as a domestic helper in the city, also stayed by her side and looked after her.

But Favorito and unions that represent domestic workers said her case was rare and many others were fired after they became seriously ill, left without access to affordable healthcare and forced to leave the city.

The problem has led labour groups to appeal for more protection for domestic helpers who develop serious health problems.

Favorito said she left her hometown of Naga city for Hong Kong in 2004 and worked for five different employers since then.

She said she travelled home once a year for the Christmas or summer holidays to spend two weeks with her husband, a 51-year-old part-time driver, and their three sons.

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Favorito said she had felt everything was working out perfectly until she was diagnosed with stage-two cervical cancer last September and started treatment at Queen Mary Hospital.

“I cried a lot in hospital. I felt helpless and scared about the future,” she said. “But I’m thankful to those who have supported and helped me.”

She had been employed by an expatriate couple living in the Mid-Levels area of the city with their three-year-old son since 2021.

Favorito said the couple had offered to cover her medical expenses for private hospital checks because there were months-long waiting lists for public ones.

They also visited her in hospital and followed up on her treatment and progress with doctors.

Favorito also said the couple helped arrange for her husband to fly to Hong Kong last month.

05:17

‘Fighting for justice’: Indonesian domestic worker’s abuse highlights lack of legal protection

‘Fighting for justice’: Indonesian domestic worker’s abuse highlights lack of legal protection

She added her elder sister’s employers, a Hong Kong couple, also let her stay at their home in Yuen Long so her sibling could look after her.

Favorito was later told her tumour had shrunk and she started to feel her appetite return.

Singaporean homemaker Juliana Loh, Favorito’s employer, said she had called a variety of NGOs and employment agencies for advice, but was told that most people sent their helpers home if they became seriously ill.

“It’s shocking to hear that because these women work so hard - they’re the pillars of our households,” she said.

Loh said she had spent more than HK$30,000 (US$3,840) on Favorito’s medical expenses and also launched a fundraising campaign last month to raise HK$400,000 to cover her care and living expenses in the Philippines.

“It’s just the right thing to do because my helper said to me ‘if you send me home, I’m going to die’,” she explained.

Loh praised Favorito for keeping the household running, being a good cook and having a great relationship with the couple’s son.

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Favorito and Loh agreed to end the contract last month because of her medical condition and she and her husband flew back to the Philippines on December 27.

Loh urged employers to ensure medical checks for domestic helpers included mammograms and pap smears and to check that medical insurance was up-to-date and covered critical illnesses.

She also called on NGOs in Hong Kong to step up health education for helpers.

There are more than 338,000 foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong, with most from the Philippines and Indonesia.

The precarious position of foreign domestic helpers in the city was put in the spotlight in 2019, when Hongkongers reacted with an outcry over Baby Jane Allas’ sacking after she was found to have advanced cervical cancer.

The Filipino helper lost access to Hong Kong’s affordable public healthcare and could no longer remain in the city.

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The ill woman had a sister who also worked as a helper in Hong Kong, whose employer offered Allas a place to stay and helped raise funds for her to receive medical care in the city before she returned to the Philippines.

Allas died in Narra, Palawan from complications related to a kidney infection in 2021.

Indonesian Migrant Workers’ Union chairwoman Sringatin said the situation had worsened over the years, despite Allas’ case, and that the sacking of sick helpers remained common among employers.

The union chair singled out a case involving an Indonesian domestic helper in her 30s who was fired by her employer last October, just before the woman was to have a procedure to treat kidney stones.

Sringatin added the woman was staying at a shelter and had filed a legal case against the employer, who she claimed had refused to pay for her medical expenses and wages while she was on sick leave.

“When domestic workers have a serious illness or are very sick, employers usually don’t like it and terminate their contract,” she said. “There are some very rare cases where we found a good employer let a domestic worker have treatment in Hong Kong.”

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Sringatin also appealed to the government to amend policies that meant sacked helpers had to leave within two weeks and give those with severe medical conditions time to find a new employer and access to affordable public healthcare.

The Labour Department said the Employment Ordinance barred employers from sacking staff on paid sick leave, except in cases of summary dismissal for serious misconduct.

Offenders can face a maximum fine of HK$100,000 and also have to pay compensation to the dismissed employee.

The department said domestic helpers who suspected their employment rights and benefits had been infringed could seek redress.

“The Labour Department is firmly committed to promoting a comprehensive understanding of employment rights and benefits among foreign domestic helpers,” it said.