IOM has opened three clinics in Dhaka, Sylhet and Chittagong to
screen long stay UK visa applicants for tuberculosis.

Under the new UK-government sponsored programme, all UK visa
applicants in Bangladesh aged 11 or older applying for a visa for a
stay of longer than 6 months, will have to visit one of the clinics
before submitting their visa application.

Anyone screening negative will receive a certificate confirming
that they are free from infectious TB. But anyone found to be
suffering from the disease will be asked to seek treatment before
they apply for a visa.

Over the past three months, IOM has launched similar UK visa TB
screening programmes in Thailand, Tanzania and the Sudan. Other
countries may be added later this year.

IOM already operates one of the world’s largest TB
screening programmes. In 2004 it provided health assessments
including TB checks for over 115,000 migrants and refugees
worldwide.

For further information, please contact:

Dr. Olga Gorbacheva

IOM Geneva

Tel: + 4122 717 4396

Email: "mailto:ogorbacheva@iom.int" target="_blank" title=
"">ogorbacheva@iom.int