14 medical facilities for expat health check-ups

Manama : Fourteen medical facilities have been granted permission to conduct medical health check-ups for expatriate workers seeking employment in the Kingdom, CEO of  National Health Regulatory Authority Dr. Maryam Al Jalahma siad yesterday.

The list of private medical facilities will be announced on the web portals of the eGov, LMRA, and the Ministry of Health soon, she said.

Dr. Al Jalahma also outlined a range of requirements that medical facilities must fulfil in order to qualify for the service. These standards cover different operational and administrative aspects, including inspection facilities, laboratories, and high-tech medical devices and X-ray machines.

From a technical aspect, CEO Al Jalahma also highlighted that private medical facilities will utilise an integrated electronic system to transfer medical results and data directly to the Ministry of Health. This will allow the Ministry to process applications swiftly, while improving coordination with the LMRA, the entity responsible for issuing residency permits in the Kingdom. Al Jalahma spoke of the ongoing coordination amongst various government departments as part of the preparatory work for the new system. 

She said that new measures concerning expatriate health checks will reduce the waiting time to receive an appointment from three months to just one week. The timeframe currently required to issue a medical certificate will also be reduced from one month to one week following the completion of health checks. Two types of services will be available for health checks at private medical facilities: Standard and premium. 

Under standard service, appointments are given based on availability across approved private medical facilities. The service will cost BD20.

Under premium service, an employer is allowed to choose from a wide range of private medical facilities. It includes medical services and other services such as transportation and customer care assistance. The cost is subject to the standard rate of the medical facility (service provider).