Unacceptable deaths of migrant workers

The news should have hit headlines in most contemporaries but it did not quite do as much. Perhaps more interesting proved the crossing of $19 billion mark in the country's foreign exchange (forex) reserve, a good part of which came from remittance receipts. During the first seven months of the current fiscal, such receipts of remittance stood at $8.02 billion. There were congratulations all around for celebration of the salubrious occasion about the overall forex reserve. There is no harm in doing so. But when the downside of the matter is passed over rather casually, the mentality at work behind it exposes a serious flaw in the affairs undertaken by the authorities.
That as many as 13,827 bodies of deceased migrant workers were brought home over the past six years is not at all normal. Usually young people, mostly men in their prime of life, go abroad as workers. Roughly, 5.0-5.5 million workers from Bangladesh were engaged in mostly manual labour abroad during the period when such a large number of them embraced either unnatural or premature deaths. The joy of receiving the record amount of forex reserve is bound to dampen if the cost in terms of human life is taken into account.
One wonders if even a fraction of the number of those who were brought dead from foreign lands would have died if they stayed home. In Bangladesh, the death rate currently is 5.67 per 1,000 and the average longevity of life has gone up substantially, touching the mid-60 mark. But the country's youths and middle-aged men are becoming casualties at an alarming rate. Stroke and heart ailments are at the top of the chart claiming the lives of migrant Bangladeshi victims. In 2012, of all deaths 31.22 per cent were attributed to stroke and the figure came down to 29.46 last year. Heart diseases claimed 14.37 per cent in 2012 but it recorded a significant rise in 2013 at 18.49 per cent. It is also significant that both road and workplace accidents were the cause of 32.16 per cent and 24.63 per cent deaths in 2012 and 2013 respectively. Add to this the 10.78 per cent death caused by 'sickness', a more or less clear picture emerges.    
Now here is a subject for a thorough study by experts. Only an expert analysis can get to the bottom of such unexplainable and at times mysterious deaths. However, the entire affair is unacceptable and the reasons mentioned leaves much room for doubt. Why should young men develop such a high rate of heart and brain ailments unless they are forced to work in unbearable conditions or environment? Even the 10.78 per cent deaths related to sickness show that the total (29.46, 18.49 and 10.78 per cents: 2013 figures) deaths on account of health are the highest. Accepted that in the Middle-east countries environment is not as hospitable as it is in Bangladesh but then that alone does not explain the high rate of death of Bangladeshi migrant workers.
Saudi Arabia with 30.44 per cent of the total bodies sent to Bangladesh stands at the top of the list of migrant workers' death. This is followed by Malaysia with 16.83 per cent and United Arab Emirates with 14.46 per cent. As the largest recruiters of Bangladeshi labourers, the three countries' shares should be larger too. Nothing surprising in this but then the number itself is outrageously high in each of these three countries.
Local media carried news several times in the past how workers were compelled to live a subhuman life in Malaysia. They work in unhygienic environment and under hostile conditions living on foods lacking in taste and nutrition. Also they opt for overwork simply because they are eager to repay as soon as possible the loan they made at home for their migration expenses. Harsh and hostile conditions tell on their health and most likely they receive scant medical care and if they do at all, it is not at the time when they need it most. They surely have language problem and by the time they fall sick, it is too late to give them proper medical attention.
What is shocking is that the authorities do not seem unduly perturbed about this unusual development involving the country's remittance earners. As if there is nothing for the source country to do anything about this matter. How outrageous! There is a need for changing the mindset. That the government took an initiative to send workers to Malaysia from Bangladesh under an agreement between the two governments can be viewed as a first step towards improving the entire gamut of employment of the country's workers abroad. The advantage of government-to-government employment arrangement is that both the source and host countries can keep a tab on the workers and their work places. Under other arrangements, this is not possible and the worst sufferers are those who are fated to change their jobs under free visas. Without regular job, they lead a wretched life both in camps and in workplaces.
These are areas that have to be addressed in an effort to improving the working and living condition for Bangladeshi migrant workers. A diplomatic wing can be given the responsibility to watch over working conditions, nature of work and proposed living places in the host country. There is no question that Bangladeshi workers are hard-working and they should not easily fall sick and die in a foreign country if they are given a modest work place and shelter for their stay. The authorities must ensure that migrant workers are provided with requirements they need to stay fit and healthy in the land they work for.
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