Too many migrant worker deaths
A Daily Star report has found that over the last decade the number of Bangladeshi migrant workers who have died abroad of stroke or heart attack has been increasing every year. Last year, 3,375 bodies of migrant workers arrived in Bangladesh. Many others have been buried abroad. Most of these men were below 40 which makes such deaths all the more tragic.
It is unacceptable that the lives of these men, most of them in their prime, should be cut short because of the hardship they face in foreign lands. Low income that do not cover their healthcare costs, poor diet, long working hours, anxiety over how they will pay off their debts, a hostile environment in foreign soil – these are some of the reasons why our migrant workers suffer mentally and physically.
Remittance from their hard earned labour account for a large part of our foreign exchange reserves and is a major factor in our stable economic growth. These earnings have also boosted the economic status of families and allowed thousands of children to carry on their education. Such huge contributions to our national economy and social development warrant greater efforts to ensure the welfare of our migrant workers. It is incomprehensible why the ministry concerned has not carried out a proper investigation into these deaths. Such indifference towards those who are instrumental in our economic development is deplorable.
Now that the expatriates and welfare minister has said that an investigation will start, we hope that such a probe will lead to the government taking effective measures to make sure that our workers do not have to suffer such dire conditions that lead to their untimely deaths.
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