Medical sector in shambles

This was reported in Al-Wasat this morning:

وأكد أطباء موقوفون أن السماهيجي بحاجة إلى عملية فوراً، حتى لا تتضاعف حالته الصحية، وذلك بعد تعرضه لجلطة، مشيرين إلى أن العملية تتطلب قدوم طبيب من خارج البحرين، أو السماح لأحد الأطباء الموقوفين عن العمل بإجراء العملية.

Translation:
The suspended doctors confirmed that Dr. Al-Samahiji requires immediate surgery in order for his situation not to be exacerbated which could lead to a stroke, pointing out that the operation requires either the provision of a specialist doctor to be brought from abroad, or to allow one of the suspended doctors to perform the operation.

The article goes further in naming two doctors who are qualified to perform the operation both of whom are suspended due to their political opinions.

This is just one of several cases in which the medical community have been criminalized and incarcerated for nothing more than performing their work, voicing their opinions and talking to the foreign media during the Feb 14th rebellion. And this particular case exemplifies the inhumane way that the regime continues to use the medical cadres for its own political ends, all of which resolutely failed in the eyes of the world.

So now the country is left without proper medical expertise; as those committed doctors are either incarcerated under trumped up charges, or they are unfairly suspended from duty. The irony of this situation is that the people who do suffer from this state of affairs are the normal Bahrainis and residents, those from the middle classes upwards won’t at all as they can and do resort to alternate private medical care due to their lack of trust in the medical system here due to their own prejudices, but that’s another story.

So what now?

Ship a foreign surgeon from abroad to perform Dr. Al-Samahiji’s operation and “save face”, or would they do the honorable thing and return those suspended medics to their rightful positions to perform their avowed duties and release all of those who are unfairly imprisoned to resume their lives and continue to positively contribute to their country?

My fear is that prevarication will rule, again, and the good Dr. Al-Samahiji will die waiting. A double victim, if you will.

Who gains from this?

Comments

  1. Jon of Arabia

    Some of the country’s top consultants have been in prison for close to 6 months now. The orgy that the loyalists started back in March has managed to somehow justify to their followers the imprisonment and torture of medical consultants, all under the guise of “treason”.

  2. unJane

    Have you seen Al Jazeera’s ‘Shouting in the Dark’? I thought their coverage in the spring pretty lackluster but feel they have made up for it by this well produced documentary. You can find it on YouTube.

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