Treatment abroad to be monitored

Manama

A group of MPs has proposed to separate the budget of Health Ministry’s Treatment Abroad Committee form the ministry’s annual funds, to enhance financial auditing and monitoring of the committee, it has emerged yesterday. 

In a press statement issued by the Parliament House, it was announced that MPs Theyab Al Nuaimi, Mohsen Al Bakry, Adel Al Assoomy, Jamal Dawood and Abdulhameed Al Najjar submitted the proposal.

Justifying the proposal, Al Bakry said, “According to the ministry’s records, the allocated budget for treatment abroad was exceeded by BD21 million by the end of 2014.”

“Treatment abroad expenses were more than BD28 million, while only BD6 million was allocated for it in the ministry’s annual budget for 2014,” Mr. Al Bakry said.

He affirmed that “the treatment abroad expenses are now taking the biggest share of the ministry’s budget and is affecting the quality of other healthcare services provided by the ministry.”

Last month, a group of MPs, including the those submitted the proposal, demanded an interrogation of Health Minister Sadiq Al Shehabi on the background of several violations in the ministry, where majority of complaints were related to the treatment abroad issue.  However, the interrogation was overlooked, as majority of MPs didn’t vote for it.