Migrant workers pay inflated fees for medical tests, fuelling high migration costs
Expat ministry sends letter to Gulf Health Council, urging it to take action against dishonest medical centres
Highlights:
- Migrant workers face inflated fees, bribes for medical certificates
- Official test fee Tk10,000, but workers pay double-plus
- GHC-approved centres surged from 26 to 260 since 2017
- Syndicates exploit workers; corruption siphoned thousands of crores
- Qatar's fixed fees, limited centres reduced corruption significantly
- Government, exporters warn unchecked fraud could damage labour market
Bangladeshi workers, especially those seeking employment in Gulf countries and Malaysia, continue to face significant financial exploitation and harassment due to a corrupt system of mandatory medical tests.
Migrant workers and sector insiders allege that Designated medical centres often charge inflated fees and issue fraudulent reports, contributing to Bangladesh's high migration costs—among the highest in South Asia.
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The official medical test fee for a Gulf-bound worker is approximately Tk10,000, yet most are forced to pay double or more. In many instances, workers who are initially declared "unfit" must pay between Tk30,000 and Tk80,000 to secure a "fit" certificate.
"Only 2-5% of workers can get their medical tests done for the set fee. The rest have to pay at least Tk17,000 to Tk20,000," said Tipu Sultan, a former joint secretary general of the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira).
He explained that centres often find fabricated "problems" to justify charging workers more. "Since a single 'unfit' report could blacklist a person for life, aspiring migrants pre-emptively contact a middleman to pay the extra money. This way, they don't have to face any problems; they just pay the bribe, and it's done."
"This mafia syndicate, together with some corrupt officials, has hacked the system to grab extra slots, India, despite its huge population, has only 167 centres. Bangladesh's numbers are abnormal, and the fallout is severe."
Fahim Mahmud, who migrated to Kuwait last November, recounted his own experience. After being declared "unfit" in Chattogram, he had to pay Tk50,000 to a different centre in Dhaka for a "fit" certificate.
He noted that his total migration cost was around Tk10 lakh and that upon reaching Kuwait, he passed a re-medical test for only 5 dinars.
His friend had a similar experience, spending Tk85,000 for the same process at a Chattogram centre.
Unregulated medical centre market
The problem for the migrant workers stems from an unregulated and overcrowded market of medical centres approved by the Gulf Health Council (GHC), say industry insiders.
A medical centre must first be approved by the Bangladesh Health Ministry and then by the GHC to certify workers' health for migration.
According to the Bangladesh Association of Gulf Medical Centres (BAGMC), the number of GHC-approved centres in Bangladesh has skyrocketed from just 26 in 2017 to a staggering 260 today. This is significantly higher than in neighbouring countries like India (167), Pakistan (124), Nepal (30), and Sri Lanka (27), according to Wafid, the GHC's official online platform.
"This has created a vicious competition, with some centres allegedly issuing reports based on passport photocopies alone, without conducting any tests," said Noman Chowdhury, president of BAGMC. He described the situation as "unprecedented," stating, "Since 2017, and especially in 2022, 54 new centres have been approved at once. The current number of centres is four times the actual demand."
"Each centre is doing between 50,000 and 1,00,000 medical tests a year, which is practically impossible," Chowdhury added.
Those in the sector allege that this approval process is driven by corruption, with a syndicate securing approvals for medical centres through bribery.
Md Moinul Ahsan, director (Hospital and Clinics) at the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), stated that they approve any lab with quality equipment and the necessary capacity, noting that there is a "government revenue aspect involved."
He emphasised that whether they can conduct health tests for migrants is "solely decided by the Gulf Health Council." Ahsan added that the DGHS only takes action if there is a specific allegation of fraud.
Manpower exporters fear that when workers travel to the Middle East with fake medical reports and subsequently fail re-medical tests, it could severely damage Bangladesh's labour market reputation.
Corruption and collusion
The financial toll on workers is immense. Between 2021 and May 2025, over 3.2 million Bangladeshi workers were employed in four key Gulf countries: Saudi Arabia, Oman, the UAE, and Kuwait. Baira's Tipu Sultan estimates that around 95% of these workers paid at least Tk10,000 in bribes, with the total siphoned amount reaching an estimated Tk3,079 crore.
A syndicate of medical centres is accused of treating aspiring migrants as nothing more than "money machines." Migrants and recruiters allege that after registering through the GHC platform and being assigned a medical centre, candidates are often declared "unfit" and then forced to pay bribes to obtain a "fit" report.
"The medical centres are selected after approval from both our health ministry and the GHC. We have sent letters to both parties and hope the GHC will investigate and take measures soon"
However, the situation is different for workers migrating to Qatar, where the government has fixed the medical test fee at $137 and designated only two centres for the entire country—one in Dhaka and one in Sylhet. This has reportedly eliminated corruption from the process, although workers may still face harassment and higher costs due to the limited number of centres.
Officials at the Qatar Medical Centre in Dhaka denied any scope for corruption within their institution, stating, "Often, brokers use social media to lure ordinary people with various promises. In such cases, there is nothing we can do."
Exploitation is not limited to the Gulf. According to Baira sources, a syndicate of 100 recruiting agencies allegedly extracted an additional Tk355 crore from Malaysia-bound workers over the past three years. Although the fee was fixed at Tk6,500, syndicate members charged Tk11,000 per worker. Baira member Altab Hossain noted that a significant portion of an alleged Tk24,000 crore corruption in the Malaysian labour market was reportedly collected through these fraudulent medical tests.
Owners under pressure
Medical centre owners themselves claim they are struggling due to intense competition. Of the 260 GHC-approved centres, 186 are located in Dhaka.
Owners allege that dishonest groups manipulate the GHC's online system to secure a disproportionate number of applicants, leaving others underutilised.
At a press conference in early August, the BAGMC warned that if these irregularities are not curbed, Bangladesh's labour export market could collapse.
"This mafia syndicate, together with some corrupt officials, has hacked the system to grab extra slots," said Noman Chowdhury. "India, despite its huge population, has only 167 centres. Bangladesh's numbers are abnormal, and the fallout is severe."
Government response
The expatriates' welfare and overseas employment ministry has taken notice of the widespread complaints and has sent a letter to the GHC urging it to take action.
"The medical centres are selected after approval from both our health ministry and the GHC. We have sent letters to both parties and hope the GHC will investigate and take measures soon," said AZM Nurul Haque, joint secretary of the ministry's Monitoring and Enforcement Wing.
Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Adviser Asif Nazrul stated that the issue is not simple, as "fake documents involve many actors." He added, "We try our best to monitor and control, but isolated efforts won't solve the issue… This is not just a legal issue – it's also a cultural one, and addressing it requires broader social efforts."
Despite the challenges, Baira leader Tipu Sultan noted a recent improvement, with some workers now able to secure medical certificates without paying extra fees due to pressure from the expatriates' ministry.
