Bahrain MPs plan to grill minister

A group of Bahraini parliamentarians plan to question Minister of Health Dr Khalil Hassan, who is being accused of issuing a series of "arbitrary" orders that affected negative the state of health sector in the kingdom, according to a prominent member of Parliament.

MP Isa Al Mutawa, who is the chief author of the motion to grill Dr Hassan, told Gulf News he expected to have the two thirds majority required vote out the minister.

"The minister continues to issue arbitrary rules under which top doctors in Bahrain have been marginalised, which affects the level of services provided to the public," Al Mutawa said.

The issue goes back more than one year when Dr Hassan decided to dismiss two senior consultants, Dr Ali Al Aradi, an orthopaedic surgeon, and Dr Ahmed Jamal, an ENT consultant, because they were leading a widespread opposition of the country's 1,000 doctors to the minister's plan of re-regulating the profession.

Under the plan, private practice will be restricted only to those authorised by the minister, and under strict fee policy. The new guidelines say private doctors are authorised to charge a maximum of BD10 per patient.

However, another controversy arose earlier this week when a leading surgeon, Dr Abdul Wahab Mohammed complained the minister has banned him from using the facilities of the kingdom's main hospital, the Salmaniya Complex, to operate.

The surgeon has won the support of the Medical Association and a number of MPs who called upon the minister to overturn the alleged the decision. Dr Hassan's proposed questioning by the House of Deputies would be the second such move in recent weeks.

Three ministers are scheduled to appear in Parliament sometime next month in connection to an alleged financial and administrative mismanagement in Bahrain's two social security funds.

The Minister of Finance and National Economy, Abdullah Saif, the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, Dr Majeed Al Alawi and the Minister of State Abdul Nabi Al Shoula are accused by a Parliamentary committee of leading the two agencies to loose millions of dinars through failed investment schemes.

MP Isa Al Mutawa said he had planned to question the Minister of Health since October 2003. "However, a number of colleagues asked me to postpone the motion so we can all focus on the issue of the two pension funds," he said.