Bahraini woman on trial for faking NHRA approval for hair growth device

TDT | Manama       

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

A Bahraini woman is on trial in the High Criminal Court for allegedly forging National Health Regulatory Authority (NHRA) approval to license a medical centre for the use of a hair growth device.

The defendant appeared in yesterday’s session and denied the charge. The court has decided to postpone the next session to September 18 for further review and response.

The Public Prosecution has charged the defendant with electronically forging the official preliminary approval issued by the NHRA using computer software with the intention of presenting it as a valid electronic record for supplying the hair growth device to a medical center.

As testified by the Chief of Medical Devices Supplies Control, the incident’s details began with the receipt of correspondence from a medical centre in April 2021, requesting verification of a medical device to be sold by a company.

The attached message claimed that the device had obtained preliminary approval and was awaiting final approval from the authority.

However, this confirmation revealed that the approval had been forged since the authority does not issue licensing in two steps, and two-step approval is only granted to companies.

In a meeting held with the defendant, the company director, a safety advisor, and a lawyer, they were confronted with the documents.

The defendant admitted to altering the approval letter due to the medical centre’s insistence on ordering the hair growth device. Consequently, she modified the preliminary approval document by changing the date of issue and the reference number.

Additionally, she added a paragraph stating that a final approval would be issued by the NHRA. Within the record of the Public Prosecution, the defendant confessed that she had not obtained final sale approval from the NHRA for the hair growth device.

Nevertheless, she was confident in its eventual issuance due to the company’s existing approval for its activities. Consequently, she forged the document with the device’s specifications and sent it to the medical centre.