Bangladesh : Dhaka to open diplomatic station in Chennai

Bangladesh will soon open a new diplomatic station in Chennai. Official sources from Bangladesh said on Monday that the new post was likely to focus on medical tourism and educational centres that drew thousands of Bangladesh citizens to India every year.

“The main focus of the new diplomatic station in Chennai will be to address the needs of Bangladeshi citizens who visit India for medical and educational purposes. Medical treatment, especially super-specialty treatment of kidney, eye and neurological issues available in southern India, is the best in the region, which draws our citizens to India in large numbers. This has helped build a strong people-to-people bond,” said a diplomatic source from Bangladesh. The decision to open the new station in Chennai, said the official, was taken on Monday during a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

“We are opening 17 new diplomatic missions across the world, including the new one in Chennai,” said the official, highlighting that the decision on Chennai



was part of a bilateral agreement between India and Bangladesh.

Bangladesh at present has a High Commission in Delhi, two Deputy High Commissions in Kolkata and Mumbai, and two Assistant High Commissions in Guwahati and Agartala. The outpost in Agartala was the latest to be upgraded in the past decade.

Bangladesh emerged as the largest overseas user of India’s health services sector during 2015-16. Reports suggest that out of the 4,60,000 foreign patients treated in Indian hospitals, nearly 165,000 were from Bangladesh. The total number of Bangladeshi patients generated $0.34 billion in revenue for India during the period, which was studied by the Directorate-General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics. Bangladeshis have also emerged as the largest number of foreign tourists to India mainly due to medical tourism. During the April visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, both sides also concluded an agreement to help family members of the veterans of the 1971 war get medical treatment in Indian hospitals.