Bill seeks priority for Bahraini staff in private hospitals

Manama : Parliamentarians have presented a bill seeking to prioritise the recruitment of Bahraini medical crew in private health institutions, DT News has learnt.

Tabled by First Deputy Speaker of the Council of Representatives Ali Al Aradi and four other MPs in January, the bill stipulates not renewing the contracts of non-Bahraini staff in private health institutions if a Bahraini candidate is available.

The proposal, if approved, will amend the existing Legislative Decree 21 for the year 2015 on Private Health Institutions, encourages private health institutions to take a more positive approach in embracing Bahraini doctors, nurses and pharmacists “especially at a time when the numbers of private hospitals and health centres are steadily growing in the Kingdom”.

As per the legislative procedures, the bill was referred to several committees in the council for studying, including the Services Committee, which approved it after discussing the matter with a number of the related official authorities.

This included the Supreme Council for Health, Labour Market Regulatory Authority,  the Legislation and Legal Opinion Commission and Labour and Social Development Ministry. However, these authorities expressed concerns and reservations over the proposed law. 

The proposal is scheduled to be reviewed and discussed by MPs, in the presence of representatives of these authorities, in the next parliament weekly meeting on Tuesday.

As the latest official statistics show, more than 430 Bahraini medical staff were recruited in private health establishments in 2016, while around 400 graduates remained jobless in the same year.