DHAKA, April 29, 2020 (BSS) – Foreign minister Dr A K Abdul Momen today urged the expatriate Bangladeshi workers not to return home unless they are forced to do so amid the unprecedented situation prevailing in different countries due to COVID-19 pandemic.
He made the call while inaugurating a call centre, named “Probash Bondhu,” for providing health advice to expatriate Bangladeshis living in Saudi Arabia, an official release said.
Momen hoped that good time would come for expatriate Bangladeshi workers after the ongoing global crisis passes.
The foreign minister said Bangladesh missions abroad have been providing food support to the distressed expatriate workers for mitigating their sufferings amid job cuts in different countries.
Many Bangladeshi expatriate workers have become jobless and are exposed to extreme sufferings in some Middle-Eastern countries amid COVID-19 shutdown.
Bangladesh government instructed its foreign missions to extend all possible cooperation to the expatriates, Momen said, adding all expatriate Bangladeshi nationals should follow the health advice of their respective host countries for protecting them from the deadly virus.
He said the newly inaugurated call center would create opportunity of providing telemedicine services to 22 lakh expatriate Bangladeshis currently residing in Saudi Arabia.
Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment minister Imran Ahmed and State Minister for Information and Communication Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak also joined the occasion through video conference.
Expatriate physicians will provide health advice to Bangladeshi expatriates in Saudi Arabia from 9 am to 9 pm through the call center that is jointly operated by the Bangladesh government’s ICT division and a2i project, added the release.