Members of the Bangladesh Merchant Marine Officers Association (BMMOA) made an 8-point demand including call for a marine dedicated Covid-19 hospital for vaccination.
They made the demands on Saturday at the Nasrul Hamid Auditorium of the Dhaka Reporters' Unity to draw the attention of the PM to the recent problems in the maritime profession of Bangladesh.
The press conference was presided over by the president of the organization Captain Md. Anam Chowdhury.
Speakers at the conference highlighted the various existing problems of Bangladeshi Mariners. They said that most of the marine personals have not yet received Covid jabs. As a result, many are unable to join the job on time.
Due to this the Bangladeshi marinade is losing the foreign job market and the country is losing a huge amount of foreign currency. Hence, the organization has demanded the concerned authorities to take necessary steps to prioritize vaccination for the Bangladeshi Mariners.
Senior officials agreed upon the need of a Covid dedicated hospital for the workers and officers involved in the sector.
“Allocating 20000 jabs for a sector of 10000 officials should not be difficult. By dedicating a hospital and providing 20000 doses, the government can actually vaccinate a whole commercial sector. They should take this as a priority”, said a speaker.
Further demands included immediate steps by the concerned department to remove the complication caused by the sign off process of the Bangladeshi Mariners working, of displaying the Corona Test Certificate while returning home from the ship; resolving the issue of e-passport on priority basis for Bangladeshi sailors working on sea-going ships, renewal and issue of electronic travel pass against expired passports in foreign ports.
Demands also included amendment of the sections and regulations of the proposed "Bangladesh Commercial Shipping Act-2021"; rearrangement of permission for the purchase of "Wage Earners Development Bonds" by the marine officers of ocean ships; highlighting the provision of Corona Virus Detection Rapid Test (Antigen Test) for Mariners at International Airports in Bangladesh and finally the provision of CDC to students studying in the fifth semester at the Jiangsu Maritime Institute (JMI) in China.
Vice President of the organization Captain Golam Mohiuddin Qadri, Vice President Marine Engineer Md. Mahbubur Rahman, Treasurer Officer Md. Ali Hossain, Executive Committee Member Marine Engineer Kazi Md. Abu Sayeed and Office Executive Marine Engineers were present at the event among others.
