WHO Director-General tweets praise of His Royal Highness Prince Salman

By Dr Yasser A Gomaa (University of Bahrain)

In a recent tweet, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), praised His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and Prime Minister.

He acknowledged HRH’s steady leadership and commitment to solidarity in the COVID-19 response, and continuous support to WHO in the effort to ensure vaccine equality and to defeat the contagious dangerous coronavirus.

HRH’s highly professional managerial experience in dealing with the current global health crisis taught us salutary lessons for managing this crisis which will always remind us that we can systematically and professionally prepare for similar situations, Allah forbids, in the future.

One of these invaluable lessons was that national solidarity and collaboration is an indispensable part of the fight against any outbreak.

He has succeeded in inaugurating a national united body to combat the new coronavirus, highlighting the importance of strengthening the abilities of Bahrainis and residents alike to anticipate the pandemic and to take appropriate and timely national extraordinary protective measures.

In addition, he has made significant progress in laying the foundations of national guidelines to bring public health guidance to bear and prevent the spread of the virus.

The establishment of the Bahraini National Taskforce for Combatting the Coronavirus (COVID-19) and introducing the BeAware Bahrain application are representative examples of the endless endeavours of HRH to find an effective treatment for COVID-19 to pre-vent it from wreaking havoc in the kingdom.

In addition, the rapidly advancing knowledge of COVID-19, which was gained through extensive scientific work at the Crown Prince Centre for Training and Medical Research at the Bahrain Defence Force Hospital, is another showcase of HRH’s efforts that helped tremendously in curbing the spread of this viral outbreak.

The basic core of HRH’s strategic national plan to fight against COVID-19 was to educate the public with reliable and accurate data and instructions that successfully encouraged them to comply with efficient policies (e. g., social distancing, sanitation, and isolation) which have played a crucial role in decelerating the spread of the virus. Moreover, contrary to the situation in almost all countries, the Kingdom of Bahrain, did not experience the detrimental repercussions of COVID-19.

That is, since the beginning of the pandemic in December 2019, reliable COVID-19 testing equipment and kits, personal protective equipment, intensive care unit beds, and other resources are available for everyone in the kingdom.

Undoubtedly, HRH Prince Salman, in line with the directives of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, has created for himself a permanent seat of honour at the table of modern history.

It is of paramount importance to learn from HRH’s experience in the national fight against COVID-19 that policies must be organised, appropriate actions and protective measures must be sufficient and must be deployed expeditiously, and timely recognition and intervention by all members of the community are consequential.

On top of that, we must be well-prepared for the crisis by promoting cooperation and commitment.

May Allah bless His Majesty and HRH Crown Prince and offer them long life and power, and maintain peace, security, prosperity and progress in the Kingdom of Bahrain.