‘I feel helpless’: India-Bangladesh tensions deny patients medical access

Dhaka, Bangladesh – Khadiza Khatun’s beingness took a devastating crook successful September erstwhile doctors astatine Dhaka Medical College Hospital informed her that her 37-year-old husband, Mohammad Nuri Alam, urgently needed a liver transplant – a process unavailable successful Bangladesh.

After cautious research, they decided to spell to India’s Asian Institute of Gastroenterology successful Hyderabad, a trusted destination for galore Bangladeshi patients.

But 3 months later, they are yet to unafraid visas for the trip. Amid escalating tensions betwixt India and Bangladesh since the August ouster of Sheikh Hasina, an state of New Delhi’s, from Dhaka, Indian authorities person importantly scaled backmost visa operations successful Bangladesh.

The result: Khadiza and her hubby person already missed 2 infirmary appointments, connected November 20 and December 20, and are unsure astir whether they’ll beryllium capable to get to India successful clip for January 10, the adjacent day the aesculapian installation successful Hyderabad has fixed them.

“We’ve tried everything since October – approaching question agencies, seeking assistance from friends successful government,” she told Al Jazeera. “India remains our lone hope.”

Faced with unaffordable attraction options successful Thailand and different countries, Khadiza is near watching her husband’s wellness deteriorate portion relying connected regular symptomatic attraction successful Dhaka hospitals – hoping that the caller twelvemonth volition bring her the visas her hubby and she desperately need. “I consciousness helpless, moving betwixt hospitals without a solution,” said the parent of two.

Khadiza’s conflict reflects a larger situation affecting thousands of Bangladeshi patients, who trust connected India’s affordable healthcare, due to the fact that of the visa restrictions introduced by the Indian authorities. The Indian visa centre, connected its website, says that it is lone “offering constricted assignment slots for Bangladesh nationals requiring urgent aesculapian and pupil visas” and is “currently processing lone a constricted fig of visas of exigency and humanitarian nature”.

According to an Indian visa centre authoritative successful Bangladesh, regular online visa slots crossed 5 Indian visa centres successful Bangladesh, including Dhaka, person “plummeted to astir 500” from implicit 7,000 since the onset of the protests successful July that led to Hasina’s removal from office.

For galore Bangladeshis, similar Khadiza, the existent likelihood of getting visas feels adjacent slimmer.

The usually bustling premises of the Indian visa centre successful Dhaka, Bangladesh, had precise fewer applicants connected January 1, 2025 [Moudud Ahmmed Sujan/Al Jazeera]

The descent successful ties

India-Bangladesh relations person deteriorated since Hasina fled the state for New Delhi connected August 5 aft a weeks-long student-led protestation against her progressively authoritarian rule.

India has since sheltered Hasina, straining ties – the interim Bangladesh authorities of Nobel laureate, Muhammad Yunus, past week sent New Delhi a diplomatic enactment seeking her extradition.

Meanwhile, the Indian authorities has told Bangladesh it is acrophobic astir a spate of attacks against Bangladeshi Hindus. Dhaka, connected its part, insists that astir attacks person been governmental successful quality – against perceived supporters of Sheikh Hasina – alternatively than spiritual successful their character. Bangladesh has besides accused Indian media channels of exaggerating the standard of unit against Hindus.

These tensions betwixt the 2 governments person besides impacted visa issuances. On August 26, a protestation broke retired astatine the Indian visa centre successful Dhaka implicit processing delays, aft the authorization resumed “limited operations” successful protest-hit Bangladesh connected August 13. Across the border, a Bangladeshi diplomatic ngo successful the northeast Indian metropolis of Agartala was attacked by a mob successful aboriginal December, prompting a beardown protestation from Dhaka.

On January 1, the usually bustling premises of the Indian visa centre successful Dhaka appeared astir deserted. Only a fewer applicants were waiting to taxable their documents. Most applicants received calls to taxable their visa applications and fees astatine the visa centre aft manually providing a transcript to the Indian High Commission successful Dhaka days earlier.

However, Khadiza, who followed the aforesaid process a period ago, was unsuccessful. A visa centre authoritative told Al Jazeera that the precocious committee has begun accepting much exigency applications, though online submission options stay limited.

Some Bangladeshis, who delayed their question to India for attraction arsenic they waited for tensions to ease, are present stuck with expired visas.

“My and my wife’s visas were valid until December 10, but we didn’t question past owed to tensions implicit Bangladesh-related issues successful India,” said 40-year-old Shariful Islam, from Joypurhat successful northwestern Bangladesh.

Islam suffers from a lung disease. He and 5 different household members – each with their ain wellness issues, including his woman and begetter – person for the past 4 years been travelling regularly to the eastbound Indian metropolis of Kolkata and the confederate metropolis of Vellore for aesculapian treatment.

In a agrarian country of Joypurhat, Ridowan Hossain, who runs a visa enactment agency, has meantime been struggling to unafraid visa assignment slots for patients, including a crab diligent urgently seeking attraction successful India. Over 10 days, helium repeatedly attempted to implicit the online exertion process but consistently faced failures astatine the outgo stage, helium said.

When helium called a helpline, helium said helium was conscionable told to effort again.

“I process implicit 300 Indian visas annually, but I haven’t been capable to process a azygous 1 since July,” helium said.

Now, galore Bangladeshi patients are seeking alternate attraction options successful Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Turkiye.

Mazadul Noyon, manager of Suea Noi Fit & Fly, a Bangkok-based aesculapian and circuit relation agency, told Al Jazeera that inquiries from Bangladesh person doubled compared to earlier August. “Although astir 80 percent of patients see Thailand aft failing to unafraid an Indian visa, astir wantonness the thought upon learning of the 10-15 times higher costs successful Thailand,” helium said.

For example, the archetypal attraction outgo for Khadiza’s hubby – covering diagnosis, medicine, consultation, and related expenses – on with question and accommodation, would scope from US$1,000 to US$2,000 successful India, compared to astatine slightest US$10,000 to US$15,000 successful Thailand.

For a cardiac ringing implant, costs successful Thailand scope from $5,000 to $20,000 – depending connected the hospital, excluding question and accommodation. In India, $2,000 covers top-quality rings and aesculapian care. The outgo of these procedures is adjacent higher successful countries similar Malaysia, Singapore and Turkiye, making them unaffordable for astir Bangladeshis.

Ridowan Hossain, who runs a visa enactment bureau successful Joypurhat, Bangladesh, has been struggling to unafraid appointments for his clients [Moudud Ahmmed Sujan/Al Jazeera]

A lose-lose situation

But it isn’t conscionable Bangladeshi patients who are suffering – India’s “medical tourism” industry, which offers high-quality attraction to patients from the processing satellite astatine comparatively little prices than successful the West, has taken a deed too.

Industry information shows that 60 percent of India’s 2 cardinal planetary patients annually are from Bangladesh. However, since precocious August, the fig of Bangladeshi patients has dropped by 80 percent. India’s aesculapian tourism manufacture was worthy an estimated $9bn successful 2023.

Amitabha Chattopadhyay, a paediatric cardiologist astatine Narayana Superspeciality Hospital successful Kolkata, told Al Jazeera that his infirmary has seen a 5 percent diminution successful Bangladeshi patients.

“But the hospitals treating chronic conditions are facing adjacent greater challenges,” helium said.

Hospitals successful Kolkata, the nearest metropolis to Bangladesh and culturally similar, are the worst affected.

At Peerless Hospital, a 500-bed multi-speciality infirmary successful Kolkata, regular outpatient visits from Bangladeshi patients person dropped from 150 to nether 30, with astir nary admissions, The Print, an Indian integer publication, has reported, citing the hospital’s CEO, Sudipta Mitra.

Other cardinal impacted hospitals see Narayana Health successful Bengaluru, Apollo successful Chennai, and Christian Medical College successful Vellore, according to Alexander Thomas from the Association of Healthcare Providers of India.

Meanwhile, 2 hospitals successful Kolkata and Tripura reportedly refused Bangladeshi patients, citing alleged disrespect to the Indian flag, further straining ties, according to section quality reports successful aboriginal December.

Activists of Bajrang dal, a Hindu majoritarian group, transportation a defaced symbolic emblem of Bangladesh, during a protestation against the alleged attacks connected Hindus successful Bangladesh, successful Ahmedabad, India, Wednesday, December 11, 2024 [Ajit Solanki/AP Photo]

‘Very difficult’

Touhid Hossain, the acting caput of Bangladesh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, acknowledged that the country’s patients were struggling due to the fact that of Indian visa restrictions.

“Not conscionable difficult. It has go precise difficult,” Hossain told Al Jazeera.

M Humayun Kabir, a erstwhile diplomat and president of Bangladesh Enterprise Institute who antecedently served astatine the Bangladesh ngo successful Kolkata, echoed this sentiment.

“Emergency visas were expected to beryllium processed, but I’ve received reports different … It appears determination hasn’t overmuch accidental to get [Indian] visas,” helium told Al Jazeera.

Bilateral relations appeared to beryllium thawing erstwhile Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri visited Dhaka connected December 9, marking the archetypal high-level gathering betwixt India and Bangladesh since the caller governmental changes successful Bangladesh.

Hossain confirmed that Bangladeshi authorities raised visa-related concerns with their Indian counterparts during the visit. “They assured america that they would summation visa issuance and prioritise urgent cases,” helium said.

Yet determination has been nary alteration truthful far, accidental patients and visa agents.

India’s Foreign Ministry and the High Commission of India successful Dhaka did not respond to a petition from Al Jazeera for comments connected the disapproval of New Delhi implicit visa restrictions.

But during a gathering with diplomatic correspondents successful Dhaka connected December 24, Indian High Commissioner Pranay Verma claimed that India’s visa issuance successful Bangladesh inactive surpasses that of “probably each different embassies combined”.

He besides said that helium remains optimistic astir the aboriginal of Dhaka-New Delhi relations – a sentiment that Hossain, the de facto overseas curate of Bangladesh, echoed erstwhile speaking with Al Jazeera.

Analysts, however, stay sceptical.

“Both parties talk astir bully relations, but the world suggests otherwise,” said Snigdhendu Bhattacharya, an autarkic Indian writer specialising successful South Asian issues.

Kabir, the retired Bangladesh diplomat, said helium hoped the 2 governments would beryllium capable to insulate visa issuances from their broader diplomatic tensions.

If they don’t, the neighbours could look consequences, helium cautioned.

“Such stances make a antagonistic mindset among the nationalist and tin harm semipermanent people-to-people relations,” Kabir said.

But Khadiza doesn’t person the luxury of waiting overmuch longer.

“The visa enactment bureau inactive hasn’t submitted the application,” she said, her dependable dense with disappointment. She’s mentally preparing herself for the update that the exertion couldn’t beryllium submitted – adjacent arsenic the timepiece ticks distant for Alam, her husband.