MOHAMMED RASOOLDEEN
COLOMBO: The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment, SLBFE, made arrangements from Wednesday, July, 28 for the prospective overseas Lankan workers to have them vaccinated against Covid according to the foreign employers.
The vaccination center was administering Pfizer vaccines on the prospective foreign workers.
Countries in the Middle East including those in the Gulf region has so far approved Pfizer-BioNTech, Oxford-AstraZeneca, Moderna vaccine and a single-dose Johnson and Johnson vaccines for arriving workers.
The Middle East is the home to more than one million out of the 1.5 million Lankan overseas workers in the globe,
An official from the Saudi government said that only those expatriates, who have been fully vaccinated with coronavirus vaccines approved in the Kingdom will be allowed to enter the country.
The SLBFE arranged the vaccination was carried out at the Army Hospital in Narhenpita for the prospective foreign workers. The beneficiaries were asked to come with their letters of appointment from the foreign employers or letters from the local job agents.
On vaccination at the center, the people were asked to report to the same center for their second jab on August 28.
Speaking to the Daily News, a recruiting agent who wish to remain anonymous said those workers who are traveling without the required quarantine certificate will be asked to undergo a 14-day mandatory quarantine at their own expenses.
“ In case of deployment of housemaids, the foreign sponsors will bear the cost of quarantine services ,while the selected employees in other sectors have to pay for the quarantine which would cost them Rs 150,000 each,” the agent said.
