5/19/2021 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly declared fit to work or to be repatriated. However, if after repatriation, the seafarer still requires medical attention arising from said injury or illness, he shall be so provided at cost to the employer until such time he is declared fit or the degree of his disability has been established by the company-designated physician. 3. In addition to the above obligation of the employer to provide medical attention, the seafarer shall also receive sickness allowance from his employer in an amount equivalent to his basic wage computed from the time he signed off until he is declared fit to work or the degree of disability has been assessed by the companydesignated physician. The period within which the seafarer shall be entitled to his sickness allowance shall not exceed 120 days. Payment of the sickness allowance shall be made on a regular basis, but not less than once a month. Thus, Elburg should be read as requiring the company-designated physician to issue a final and definitive disability assessment within 120 or 240 days from the date of the seafarer's repatriation. As held by the Court in Vergara and Elburg, the initial 120 days within which the company-designated physician must issue a final and definitive disability assessment may be extended for another 120 days. The extended period, however, may only be availed of by the company-designated physician under justifiable circumstances. In Marlow Navigation Philippines, Inc. v. Osias,[70] the Court held that the seafarer's uncooperativeness with his medical treatment justified the extension of the period of the medical treatment and assessment to 240 days. In Magsaysay Mitsui Osk Marine, Inc. v. Buenaventura,[71] the Court found that the extension of the initial 120-day period was justified by the seafarer's need for further treatment, as in fact, the seafarer underwent therapy and rehabilitation beyond the 120-day period. The need for further medical treatment also justified the application of the 240-day period in Rickmers Marine Agency Phils., Inc. v. San Jose[72] and Magsaysay Maritime Corp. v. Simbajon.[73] The Court stressed, however, that to avail of the extended 240-day period, the company-designated physician must perform some complete and definite medical assessment to show that the illness still requires medical attendance beyond 120 days, but not to exceed 240 days.[74] The employer bears the burden of proving that the company-designated physician had a reasonable justification to invoke the 240-day period.[75] Thus, in Hanseatic Shipping Philippines, Inc. v. Ballon,[76] the Court did not https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/66257 8/14