Outbound Migrants: 1.4k to get Pfizer shots each day
Up to 1,400 migrant workers, who are waiting to go to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, will be administered Pfizer vaccine shots against Covid-19 each day at seven hospitals in the capital, the government said yesterday.
To get the vaccine, the migrants, already registered with Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET), have to register now through Surokkha app, the authorities concerned said during an online press conference.
The seven hospitals where the migrant workers can get the shots are: Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Sir Salimullah Medical College Hospital, Mugda Medical College Hospital, Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Kurmitola General Hospital and Sheikh Russel National Gastroliver Institute and Hospital.
Yesterday, the government formally opened new features of Surokkha app, which is designated for the nationwide Covid-19 vaccine registration. The features were for migrant workers.
All the outbound workers, including those travelling to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, can register for vaccines using information of their passports, instead of their national identity cards, said Harun Or Rosid, an IT programmer at the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Division.
Besides, Bangladeshi students studying abroad and foreign nationals will have similar opportunities to get registered, he said during a PowerPoint presentation.
Apart from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait-bound ones, those waiting to travel to other countries can choose their vaccination centres during registration, he said, urging them not to rush to the centres without getting the texts.
Prof Abul Bashar Mohammad Khurshid Alam, director general of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), said upon completion of registration through Surokkha app, migrant workers will be notified via SMS at least a day before the vaccination date.
He said after the first dose, it will take 28 days to get the second dose.
Prof Khurshid said they could not inoculate more than 200 migrant workers with Pfizer vaccine a day from a centre since it takes comparatively more time to vaccinate a person with the jab than with other vaccine shots.
He added that because of the special requirement for its storage, it was not possible for them to send Pfizer vaccine doses outside Dhaka.
Expatriates' Welfare Minister Imran Ahmad, who formally launched the Surokkha app's new feature for migrant workers, said they were working round the clock to ensure vaccine for the outbound workers.
He said under the BMET registration process, which is a pre-requirement for Surokkha app registration, about 20,000 to 21,000 migrant workers have registered in the last three days across the country.
In reply to a query, Expatriates' Welfare Ministry Secretary Ahmed Munirus Saleheen said although they did not get any official letter, as per a directive of the Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation, a migrant worker can have travel permission to the Gulf country after getting one dose of vaccine upon completing certain procedures through an application.
In such case, migrant workers can avoid mandatory institutional quarantine in Saudi Arabia, he said.
Mentioning migrant workers' contribution, Zunaid Ahmed Palak, state minister for the ICT division, said remittance sent by them have kept the wheels of the country's economy rolling during the trying time of the pandemic.
NM Zeaul Alam, senior secretary of the ICT division, said they revised and customised the Surokkha app so that the migrant workers can register for vaccine easily.
Migrant workers' vaccination came to the fore following Saudi Arabia, the largest Bangladeshi worker receiving country, in a directive in May asked foreign travellers to be vaccinated with either Pfizer, Moderna, Oxford AstraZeneca or Johnson and Johnson to avoid mandatory institutional quarantine there.
Later, another host country Kuwait asked foreign nationals to be vaccinated with one of the four vaccines to get the travel permit.
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