OUTGOING passengers mostly the migrant workers fall prey to fake Covid certificates and are being immensely harassed at the airports that equates to national disgrace for the Bangladesh government. This was further seen on Sunday when a Minister’s daughter was barred from going to London at Dhaka airport after she was found Covid-19 positive upon cross-checking her certificate. The former Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan was naturally angry that his daughter was stopped. Since July 23, international passengers are required to submit a Covid-19 negative certificate at the airport to be cleared for travel. Generally, passengers submit their Covid-19 certificates at the airport health desk. Upon checking it, doctors at the desk issue a token certifying the passenger is fit to fly. The passengers then submit the token to the immigration police for clearance.
There is a huge market for these certificates among migrant workers from Bangladesh hungry to get back to work in Europe, doing jobs like stocking grocery stores, bussing tables in restaurants or selling bottled water on the streets. Many Bangladeshi workers have recently flown to Italy, where they said that employers required such certificates before allowing them to go back to work. Italy’s Health Minister, Roberto Speranza has ordered the suspension of all flights coming in from Bangladesh after at least 37 Bangladeshi passengers arrived in Rome and tested positive for Covid-19. Italy sent back 168 Bangladeshis who had arrived at airports in Rome and Milan.
However, several criminal syndicates are involved in profitting from the Covid-19 pandemic in Bangladesh by selling fake Coronavirus test certificates to those in need of them. These syndicates include medical staff, graphic designers, pathological experts and IT experts. The law enforcers recently busted Regent Hospital, a dedicated Covid-19 hospital, and JKG Health for selling fake certificates to the suspected patients. Earlier, we saw that the public hospital medical staff received fake PPE and masks, and when some physicians protested they faced departmental punishment, resulting in higher levels of contamination among the doctors. It is apprehended that the system is supportive of corruption over the deadly virus test, treatment, and protection that has already blotted the image of the country in many European countries.
Corruption and lies have gone to every corner of the state structure to such an extent that honesty makes life difficult. The ex-minister’s daughter could get away with lies at Dhaka immigration if the fear was not being caught at the destination of her journey. We have no right to condemn as long as we succumb to the system.
