Stranded Bangladeshi migrant workers from the United Arab Emirates have demanded rapid PCR COVID-19 test labs at airports in Dhaka, Chattogram and Sylhet so that they can return to the Gulf state for work. Yasin Chowdhury, the coordinator of a council of Bangladeshi expatriates in UAE, said they had launched a demonstration for the demand 17 days ago, but the relevant ministries could not take visible steps. The expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment ministry wrote to the health ministry for PCR machines, but the health ministry said it had no surplus PCR machine, according to him. “And CAAB (Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh) says they don’t have enough spaces at the airports to set up PCR machines at the airports. Where will we, the stranded expatriates, go if one ministry passes the buck to another?”Yasin also demanded Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s intervention to meet their demand.

Source: bd News24 September 01, 2021 16:45 UTC