MPs call to curb non-Bahraini employment in medical field

Manama: With a view to curbing the increasing non-Bahraini employment in private hospitals and centres, a group of MPs demanded to amend the existing private healthcare institutions law yesterday.

The MPs, led by Parliament’s First Deputy Speaker Ali Al Aradi, wanted to amend the law by increasing the Bahrainisation percentage at private hospitals, clinics and centres to 70 per cent.

The legislators’ proposal stipulated that “Bahrainis should form at least 70pc of the medical and technical crews at private healthcare institutions.”

Al Aradi stated that “a legislature intervention is required to give a positive role for private healthcare establishments in the country to integrate more Bahraini doctors, pharmacists and nurses, especially that these establishments are rapidly growing in Bahrain.”

“Foreigners are dominating the private healthcare sector, with 90pc of occupancy rates. We must not rely on non-Bahraini elements and it’s necessary to protect Bahraini medical cadres, who are isolated without jobs in this key sector,” Al Aradi said in a statement yesterday.

He also explained that the proposal comes to “restore hope for unemployed Bahraini graduates in medical fields by providing them with stable jobs.”

The MP added that this would include private hospitals, specialised hospitals, medical centres, therapeutic and medical institutions, private clinics and alternative medicine centres and shops.

Along with Al Aradi, the proposal was also submitted by MPs Hamad Al Dossary, Jamal Dawood, Khalifa Al Ghanem and Adel Hameed.