*** ----> MPs worried over doctors leaving government hospitals | THE DAILY TRIBUNE | KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN

MPs worried over doctors leaving government hospitals

ManamaThe increasing number of resignations of doctors in the healthcare institutions in the public sector are raising concerns.

The issue came up during the weekly regular session of the House of Representatives yesterday, when the House reviewed the final report of a special investigative committee formed by the parliament at the beginning of last year to investigate the quality of medical services in the healthcare establishments and the alleged medical negligence cases that were reported in a number of them.

In a discussion held in the presence of Health Minister Faeqa Al Saleh, reviewing the committee’s report, Committee Head MP Mohammed Al Maarifi accused the ministry of causing the collective resignation of doctors and consultants from public hospitals and health centres.

Referring to the increasing numbers of doctors who reportedly resigned recently, Al Maarifi said “these doctors took an oath to serve the people” and alleged that the cause behind the resignation is the negligence of the ministry to their rights.

He cited that the ministry mentioned in a recent report that the numbers of doctors in public healthcare institutions have decreased by 9.1 percent within four years.

“The ministry claimed that there are no collective resignations of doctors in the public sectors against the findings of the committee. The ministry said that the resignations are personal decisions of the doctors and that there attempts to reinstate them as consultants in the near future,” Al Maarifi added. Health Ministry reportedly informed the committee earlier this month that 26 doctors “ordinarily” retired, 14 opted to early retirement and 37 “voluntarily” resigned as they “were granted with better career opportunities in the private sector”.  Other committee members also blamed the ministry for the “deteriorating” conditions of Bahraini doctors in the public sector, while Minister Al Saleh defended the ministry’s stance and commended on the committee for assessing the ministry’s performance, stating that “the committee saved around BD100, 000 that would’ve been paid to a private company to assess its performance”.