Bangladeshi Workers: Kuwait won’t require health clearance now

About 100 Bangladeshi expatriates were in uncertainty all day yesterday over being able to return to Kuwait as they could not get medical clearance certificates for entering the Gulf country.

Kuwait on Tuesday imposed restrictions on the entry of people from 10 countries, including Bangladesh, over coronavirus fears.

The civil aviation authorities of Kuwait said any passenger coming from the 10 countries must produce a certificate, issued by an authorised medical centre in his own country, showing that he was not infected with coronavirus.

However, the restriction was withdrawn by the Kuwait council of ministers last night.

The Bangladeshi expatriates went to the Kuwait embassy in Dhaka and the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) in Mohakhali, but could not manage certificates as the two offices said they were not responsible for issuing those. This made them worried as their dates of departure were getting closer.

The expatriates, who are scheduled to fly to Kuwait within the next couple of weeks, went to the Gulf country's Dhaka embassy. But the embassy officials referred them to the IEDCR for certificates.

Visiting the IEDCR office in Mohakhali, the expatriates learnt that it was not responsible for issuing any health certificate.

Speaking to The Daily Star, Kamal Hossain from Manikganj said, "We went to the embassy and now we are here [IEDCR office]. But the officials are saying that they don't know anything. Where should we go now?"

Kamal is scheduled to fly to Kuwait on March 12.

Md Haris from Feni demanded an immediate solution to the problem. He said he would be in deep trouble if he could not take a flight to Kuwait tomorrow night.

Like Kamal and Haris, many others expressed concern as their dates of departure were not far away.

Meanwhile, Biman Bangladesh Airlines yesterday said passengers bound for Kuwait must obtain certificates from any of the 38 medical centres, approved by the Kuwait embassy in Dhaka, mentioning that they were free from coronavirus.

In a press release, the national carrier said passengers must show the certificates before being issued boarding cards at the airports.