Harassments, bribes and frauds in the name of medical tests at designated medical facilities stalk aspiring migrants to the Gulf countries.

...The 34-year-old has been trying to go to Saudi Arabia for the past one and a half years. After getting a work visa from a Saudi employer, he did his medical check-up last year at Mohaimid Medical Center in Dhaka's Gulshan, which is a designated clinic of the Gulf Health Council (GHC).

...His result came positive in the TPHA test – a diagnosis to detect the dissolved number of antibodies in the serum sample of a patient against the causative agents of syphilis.

Subsequently, the man hailing from Sherpur did the same test in four different government and private hospitals in the capital...All the four hospitals pronounced him TPHA negative.

...the designated clinic turned down the reports. Then a middleman, whom the aspiring migrant claimed to be working for the clinic, approached Razzaq and took Tk20,000 from him for issuing a fitness certificate.

Aspiring migrants and recruiters alleged that most of the designated centres make the clients unfit, and then approach them for bribes to change the medical report. Even unfit individuals can reportedly get a fitness certificate for Tk30,000-Tk60,000.