Monday, May 06, 2024
A powerful syndicate, which has effectively secured cooperation from the Malaysian human resources ministry, is now eyeing to corner the huge medical test business centring manpower exports to Malaysia – through a monopoly of 35 medical centres in Bangladesh.
If the ill-motivated ploy gets through, these medical centres will be solely responsible for carrying out mandatory medical examinations on aspirant migrants at costs that will be much higher compared to the usual fees, industry insiders pointed out.
Ruhul Amin Shwapan is a mastermind of the Malaysian labour market syndicate who owns two of the 35 medical centres – Meem Medical Centre and Catharsis Medical Centre Ltd, and four recruiting agencies – Catharsis International, Sarker International, Path Finder International, and Amial International.
Meanwhile, a number of other medical centres are patronised by the BNP-Jamaat clique.
On the matter, Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmed said, “We are scrutinising applications submitted by local medical centres.”
He, however, declined to comment whether the medical centres will be selected by the government of Bangladesh or Malaysia. “I will not make any further comment on the issue,” Imran told The Business Post.
Aggrieved Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) members said most of the 35 medical centre are unauthorised and sub-standard. None of those is a leading medical or diagnostic centre or hospital in Bangladesh, they added.
Medical centres are being swindled out of huge sums of money in the pretext of registration, they said, adding that these are happening without the approval of the Bangladesh government.
However, the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in December last year between Bangladesh and Malaysia over the manpower export does not make it compulsory to have the medical tests supervised by a foreign company.
It clearly states that the Bangladesh will ensure the health examination of its Malaysia-bound workers by medical centres approved and designated by Bangladesh’s government.
In July 2019, the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment called for applications from medical centres for enlistment with a fee of Tk 5,000.
Although a committee, formed later to scrutinise the standard of the medical centres, visited a number of health facilities, the ministry is yet to publish any list even after more than two and a half years.
Previously, ministry Secretary Ahmed Munirus Saleheen said they had taken initiatives to enlist the necessary number of medical centres following the amended migrant workers’ health examination policy 2022.
“We’re accepting fresh applications, scrapping those received against the 2019 circular as they were not timely,” he said.
When asked about the 35 medical centres, Saleheen said the ministry was unaware of the matter.
“The organisations concerned have to follow the ministry’s policy for medical examination of migrant workers from Bangladesh. The first step is to be enrolled with the ministry,” he had added.
ALSO READ: 25 inexperienced agencies incapable of sending 10-15 lakh workers
Industry insiders said the manpower syndicate – blessed by a certain quarter within the Malaysian government – is now acting like a shadow government of Bangladesh through bypassing the MoU, and demeaning the bilateral diplomatic relations between the two countries who are members of a number of fora, including the D-8, the manpower syndicate – blessed by a certain quarter within the Malaysian government – is now acting like a shadow government of Bangladesh.
The syndicate of 25 recruiting agencies is now eying the business of medical tests as Malaysia will take about 1 to 1.5 million workers from Bangladesh in three to five years and all of them have to clear primary medical screening.
Now, the syndicate of 35 medical centres is actively trying to manipulate the situation and line their pockets.
A large number of the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) members have been accusing Malaysian company Bestinet of being the mastermind of the syndicate.
The company is allegedly continuing its ill attempts in Dhaka and Kuala Lumpur. Bangladesh-origin Malaysian Amin Nur, owner of Bestinet, and his Bangladeshi partner Ruhul Amin Shawpon, are behind the malpractice, they say.
And the same syndicate caused the shutdown of the labour market, which has the potential of generating huge remittances, three and a half years ago.
The controversial IT firm “Bestinet” is trying to take advantage of the government’s indecision and delay. Some of its officials are visiting medical centres in Dhaka and swindling the owners out of huge amounts of money promising them to get the Malaysian government’s approval for them.
ALSO READ: Who approves 25 labour recruiters for Malaysia?
The FOMEMA (Foreign Workers Medical Examination Programme) is the only authorised body in Malaysia to examine the health of foreign workers and Bestinet has no agreement with the agency.
All workers from 14 countries have to undergo a second health screening after arriving in Malaysia, which is done entirely through FOMEMA.
As the health examination system and standards of Bangladeshi medical centres were not the same as that of FOMEMA, many workers had to return home empty-handed due to medical unfitness.
But if the health examination system was equal to that of FOMEMA, workers would not have to return home.
BAIRA members questioned on what basis FWCMS prepared the list and who approved it? They wondered how a foreign company could publish the list of medical centres without the approval of the health ministry.
They demanded an investigation into whether there was abetment from the health and expatriates’ welfare ministries.
If the Malaysian government hires a private firm to ensure the quality of the primary health examination of the migrant workers, it is unnecessary to conduct a second health screening after going to Malaysia, they added.
All these issues have created discontent and instability in the labour market. Several former and current BAIRA leaders alleged that large sums of money had changed hands over the medical centre issue – and it shows no sign of letting up.
BAIRA leaders questioned the purpose of a second health examination in Malaysia when the list is prepared through the FWCMS.
There has been no visible progress even after all this, leaving this sensitive issue vulnerable to manipulation by the syndicate. “I don’t think a second medical test in Malaysia will be necessary if the health examination of aspirant migrants maintain the same standard as FOMEMA.
But to ensure that, the Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment minister will have to seek assistance from the Malaysian government and FOMEMA,” said a senior member of BAIRA executive body.
ALSO READ: Why only 25 Bangladeshi agencies allowed?
This syndicate will negatively impact the health and manpower export sectors and, at the same time, tarnish the country’s image and harm the interests of workers going abroad for jobs.
Immigration sector insiders said the presence of the syndicate meant an increase in immigration costs and various irregularities, apart from risks of money laundering.
They suggested the health and expatriates’ welfare ministries jointly select medical centres for workers after inspecting their standards. One must not be held hostage by foreign service providers in the pretext of bio-medical services.
Last time, this foreign service provider had pocketed a huge sum of money citing issues like bio-medical and online x-ray reports screening by Malaysian doctors. At least 40 per cent of foreign-bound job seekers were declared medically unfit in the first phase only for making profits.
Despite the so-called digitisation and modernisation, thousands of workers were declared medically unfit from Malaysia. Last time, errors in the FWCMS bio-medical portal caused the erasure of hundreds of health reports while thousands failed to receive their reports even after a month.
As a result, recruiters hired workers from other countries. Thousands of workers were robbed of their luck.
Government data show that 2,75,000 Bangladeshi workers went to Malaysia under G2G agreement from February 2017 to December 2018. But during this time, the number of medical tests was four times higher due to irregularities of FWCMS and medical centre syndicate.
The FWCMS looted billions of taka in the pretext of medical tests and charged Tk 5,300 for bio-medical examinations. Thousands of workers failed to reach Malaysia and never got any compensation due to numerous complications of FWCMS syndicate despite being medically fit.
Accepting the same formula of syndicate translates into favouring corruption and disregarding the interests of workers.
For the Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry, 2022 will be a challenging year leaving behind the history of failure during the 2019-2021 period. The Malaysian government has adopted a ‘zero cost migration system’ due to extreme workers’ shortage and international pressure. For a syndicate-free labour market, the expatriates’ welfare ministry needs to first clarify its stance on workers’ health examination and low-cost immigration. Resolving these issues would curtail the syndicate’s activities and help ensure ‘safe migration’, stakeholders have said.
Speaking to The Business Post, former secretary general of BAIRA Shamim Ahmed Chowdhury Noman said, “Many of the 35 medical centres lack the required infrastructure and qualification to carry out health checkups on aspirant migrants.
“If these centres perform health checkups on workers going to Malaysia, many will have to return home empty handed after being rejected from the country, as many of these establishments are substandard.”
