Bahrain: Doctors are Unemployed, Others Depressed...How'd We Reach this Point?

2021-03-16 - 4:27 am

Bahrain Mirror (Exclusive): As the world's countries are working on giving the appropriate recognition and support to the medical sector and provide it with qualified human resources, being the sector that is trying to save the world from the Coronavirus pandemic, the authorities in Bahrain are finding ways to complicate the recruitment and training of medical and nursing graduates. These complications have left a number of unemployed doctors and nurses.

Bahrain Mirror published a file containing several episodes in which doctors and workers in this sector explain the methods designed by the authorities, which aim at creating two paths: the first being a fast route that allows those who the authorities are satisfied with to obtain a job and medical accreditation, and the second leading to a dark chamber which in short means: no training, no employment, no medical accreditation, but rather measures that make it more complicated for those who the authorities are not pleased with to realize their dream of wearing the white gown and achieving what these outstanding people have dreamt of throughout their years of strenuous studying.

The political authorities have turned the medical sector into an "arm wrestling" competition, stomping on the aspirations of the outstanding youths who dreamt of holding the "Doctor" title. It also held back many of them from achieving their dream, eventually turning them into a cheap labor force in private hospitals and clinics.

Since 2011, the authorities have referred the medical sector file to the military sector, specifically the army, and the result was: three main hospitals in the country headed by military personnel, and the Supreme Council of Health headed by a member of the ruling family who worked most of his life as a military doctor, Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Khalifa.

In 2019, there were 400 unemployed Bahraini doctors, both females and males, and more than 500 unemployed nurses. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health signed contracts through private companies with doctors and nurses from countries with a low medical and educational level according to WHO standards. In addition, the head of the National Guard went as far as to open a medical university in Pakistan set up with Bahraini funds to teach Pakistani medical students in order to send numbers of them to work in Bahrain. Bahrain Mirror will publish episodes on the developments the medical sector have witnessed since 2011 based on the testimonies of workers in this sector. "How did we reach this point?" is a question raised to every official in Bahrain.

Arabic Version