Medicare in Mideast

Many Bangladeshi migrants working in the Middle East countries have long been facing difficulties while consulting with physicians and nurses due to language barrier. The Bangladeshi workers cannot speak Arabic or English as often used by foreign doctors serving there. Allegations have it that due to such communications gap, some Bangladeshi patients were diagnosed wrong diseases and wrong medicines were prescribed as well.

Every year about 300 Bangladeshis living in the Middle East die of heart diseases, reports say. A study finds that around 65 per cent of the expatriates do not visit doctors or clinics, to avoid cost of medicare. They tend to visit physicians when they return to Bangladesh, but by this time it is too late to cure the disease. These people are earning foreign exchange for the country by hard labour but unfortunately their own well-being is far from assured.

Zahidul Islam

Lalmatia, Dhaka