Govt to pay Covid test fee for UAE-bound workers
He made the remarks at an exchange meeting with Bangladeshi expatriates at the Bangladesh Embassy in Abu Dhabi on Saturday
Expatriate Welfare Minister Imran Ahmed MP said the ministry will pay the Covid-19 RT-PCR test fee for each United Arab Emirates-bound worker.
He made the remarks at an exchange meeting with Bangladeshi expatriates at the Bangladesh Embassy in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
"Expatriate workers are remittance fighters of our country. Their contribution to the country's economy is undeniable. The government is also working to ensure their welfare. As part of this, the ministry will pay Tk1,600 for the Covid-19 test at the airport for UAE-bound workers," he said.
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The stranded returnees have started to fly to their workplaces from Thursday as United Arab Emirates (UAE) has approved the standard operating procedure (SOP) of installed RT-PCR labs to carry out Covid-19 test of departing migrants at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.
Around 40,000 expatriates, who came home on vacation, until now were unable to return to the UAE as the Gulf country in August made pre-flight Covid testing mandatory for inbound passengers.
In an announcement, the country said that foreign passengers must do a PCR-test for Covid-19 a maximum of six hours before their flight.
The lack of such testing facilities in the country's international airports meant many returnees were stranded in Bangladesh.
Following that, those stranded demanded that testing facilities be quickly set up at international airports as migrant workers and professionals feared that they would lose their jobs if they failed to reach their workplaces.
On 15 September, the expatriates' welfare ministry announced that they had permitted six private healthcare firms to set up Covid testing labs at Dhaka airport upon the recommendations of the health directorate.
The six firms submitted the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) on 16 September to the UAE.
UAE embassy in Dhaka sent a letter with the approval on Wednesday as the lab met proposed SOP that effective as of 12:00 noon of 29 September.
Now the newly-built six RT-PCR labs at the airport have started testing outbound passengers for Covid-19.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on 6 September instructed the authorities concerned to immediately set up labs at the country's three international airports in Dhaka, Chattogram and Sylhet.
