Mandatory medical exam for public health workers in Bahrain

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune –www.newsofbahrain.com

Medical examination will be mandatory every two years for workers in industrial and commercial establishments related to public health. Health Ministry officials said the move is aimed at ensuring workers are free from any communicable diseases. It will be implemented in early January of next year.

In particular, it will cover barbershops and massage parlours. Also included are those working in food manufacturing and packaging, food establishments, cosmetic institutions, health clubs, resorts and hotels.

Dr Mariam Al Hajri, assistant undersecretary for public health at the Ministry, stressed the importance of everyone coming together to promote health and safety and limit the spread of infectious diseases in the Kingdom. The decision is in compliance with Ministerial Resolution No. (15) regarding the organisation of periodic medical examination for workers in industrial and commercial establishments related to public health, which stipulates the employer’s commitment to sign periodic medical examination for workers every two years to ensure that they are free from communicable diseases.

It is also in compliance with Ministerial Resolution No. (14) for the year 2020 regarding the identification of commercial and industrial establishments related to public health and the professions in which they are practised, issued by the Minister of Health. Dr Al Hajri said that according to Decision No. (14) of 2020, the worker is granted a certificate from the relevant administrative authority proving that he is free of communicable diseases, after conducting a periodic medical examination on him and paying the prescribed fees.

It is also not permissible for the worker, according to the decision issued, to continue to work if the certificate has expired, unless a new certificate is obtained. Dr Zakaria Ahmed Al Khaja, executive vice president for e-transformation at the Information and eGovernment Authority, affirmed that the authority has worked to develop the electronic system that supports the efforts of the Health Ministry to preserve public health through a mandatory periodic examination of workers in industrial and commercial establishments related to public health, available through the national e-government portal.

It is in line with its commitment to strengthening cooperation and coordination with the Health Ministry and the competent authorities. He also explained that the authority has developed a set of electronic services related to the periodic examination of professions related to public health. The concerned electronic service has able to determine the nature of the professions to which the decision applies and to specify additional medical examinations, according to the nature of the profession, through the integration and linking of data with the relevant authorities.

The electronic service has also been developed and the name of the service has been modified on the National eGovernment Portal site, to be under the name “The Appointment of the Periodic Medical Examination.”