Bangla workers' health under watch

Government confirms that strict health screening is made on Bangladesh workers following reports that half of the adult population of Bangladesh are TB carriers.

Labour Minister, Jean François Chaumiere explains that the recruitment firms deals with all the formalities. “Health tests for Bangladeshi workers are conducted in their country before they are sent abroad. Once the health test exercises are completed, the recruiting firm sends the health certificates to the Mauritius Ministry of Health. The MOH then issues a provisional health clearance certificate. This will authorise the workers to enter the country, but they will have to undergo a series of health tests to confirm that they are healthy. These tests include HIV/AIDS, chest x-rays and others,” he says.

The Bangladeshi press reports that BRAC health programme executive Dr Fahim Ahmed Chowdhury said that though such a large number of Bangladeshi people are infected, very few of them carry active germs. Bangladesh ranks sixth among some 22 countries having the highest number of TB patients in the world. Every year some two million people die of the deadly disease across the world.

This was revealed at a roundtable held on Sunday at the National Press Club jointly organised by Health and Environment Journalists' Forum of Bangladesh (HEJFB), National TB Control Programme and BRAC Health Programme.TB control programme manager Dr Nazrul Islam lamented that negligence on the part of many doctors in southeast Asian countries might be responsible for increasing the number of TB patients. If proper dose of medicines is not administered, TB germs become medicine-resistant, he pointed out.

Though TB was discovered some 127 years ago and drugs for its control were invented 65 years ago, one person is infected by TB each second across the world and one dies of it every 15 seconds.

Source - http://www.defimedia.info/articles/5670/1/Bangla-workers--health-under-watch/Page1.html

Highlights – CSO Report on Labour Force, Employment and Unemployment for the 3rd Quarter of 2009

Following the issue of the CSO report on Labour, Employment and Unemployment for the period July to September 2009, the Minister of Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment Hon Jean-François Chaumière wishes to highlight the following:

• That the unemployment rate has been on the decrease for the last four years, going from 9.6% in 2005, 9.1% in 2006, 8.5% in 2007, 7.2% in 2008 and 7.7% in 2009. The slight increase in 2009 should be viewed in the context of an unprecedented economic slump on the world market, which has adversely affected various key sectors in Mauritius, namely manufacturing and tourism
• That despite the world economic downturn which has caused massive job losses in most parts of the world, and amongst the world’s largest economies like the US, Europe and China, Mauritius has been able to sustain job creation thanks to bold economic reforms undertaken by the government. Hence, 9 600 additional jobs have been created in the 2nd to the 3rd quarter of 2009 only.
• That the profile of the unemployed calls for prompt action from the government, that is: women (65% of 42 100), people aged below 25 (37%) and those without CPE or SC level. The Minister wishes to reiterate that these issues and other labour-related issues will be addressed in the National Employment Policy. Consultations in preparation of the Policy will begin next year.