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Manam: Bahrain's health minister and a lawmaker locked horns on Tuesday in a bitter standoff that sparked calls for calm and mutual respect by the parliament affairs minister and the speaker.

Answering a parliamentary question about the performance of his ministry, Faisal Al Hamer, the health minister praised the competence and dedication of the mostly Bahraini staff and referred to the latest international recognition.

On Saturday, Al Hamer said that the Salmaniya Medical Complex, the Psychiatric Hospital and 22 primary health care centres have received an Accreditation Canada (AC) certification.

However, Mohammad Al Mezal, representing Al Wefaq, the largest parliamentary bloc, doubted the recognition, saying that it was not based upon the merit of the ministry, but on how much money was paid to receive the citation.

Al Hamer reacted angrily to the charges of corruption and told the MP that he chose to be blind to the ministry's achievements that have reached impressive heights.

"We cannot accept the misleading information that you included in your intervention and we cannot accept your shouting, either," Al Hamer said.

Al Mezal retorted that the minister was lying blatantly and that he was seeking to brighten up the ministry's image.

However, the minister dismissed the MP's claim as a "broken and ugly record," referring to past standoffs between them.

Al Mezal and Al Hamer have been embroiled in a dispute over the ministry performance amid charges by the lawmaker of financial and management irregularities.

Al Mezal had a similar standoff with the former health minister, Dr Nada Haffadh, the first woman to be given a ministerial portfolio in Bahrain.

The MP repeatedly said that he was keen on an amelioration of the services provided by the ministry. Both the former and current ministers said that they had been working on tackling the multitude of problems that had plagued the ministry for years, and insisted that they had made progress.

However, according to Al Mezal, the reforms did not go far enough and did not include all departments.