Manama: Bahrain's newly-appointed health minister has denied rumours that he has been dismissed from the cabinet.
"The rumours are not true. It is incredible how fast they can spread," Nizar Al Baharna said. "We are here to work and we should look forward to solutions, not allow people with small minds distract us. Sensible and respected people should get together for the sake of the nation. Building is always difficult, but destroying is so easy," the minister told Bahraini daily Al Ayam.
Al Baharna, a former opposition figure who resigned from Al Wefaq in 2004, was appointed state minister for foreign affairs in December 2006.
He was the second high-profile opposition member to be given a cabinet portfolio after Dr Majeed Al Alawi who was named labour minister in 2002.
Last week, he was given the health portfolio in a limited cabinet reshuffle that saw four ministers ousted from the government.
However, his task appeared from the start formidable after the ministry had waded into controversy and medical staff have been putting pressure for the removal of the undersecretary for disputing their version of the events that followed a security operation at the Pearl Roundabout.
Lawmakers promptly sided with the health official and MPs from Al Asala, the expression of Salafism in Bahrain, and from the Independent Bloc, now the largest formation after the yet-to-be approved resignation of Al Wefaq, filed to grill the minister.
The filing set a new record since it targeted Al Baharna less than one week into the job.
"Do you think that what the MPs did was in the service of the country? I do not really care whether I hold this position or not. I am here because HM the King has tasked me with this responsibility that I fully assume," Al Baharna said.
"I stand by the leaders of the country through making the right decisions. What is the purpose of the others' moves? Do they want me to leave? I am ready to do it, but I have been appointed by HM the King and that is an honour for me," he said, quoted by the daily on Wednesday.
The minister said that several parties are trying to interfere in his work.
"If everybody now starts telling me what to do or not to do, I cannot do my job properly. Give me at least two months and then you can assess the situation. Let us work. Bahrain is a country for all people, so let us work together and achieve something. Sensationalism will not get us anywhere and I am confident that we can overcome the crisis and emerge stronger," he said.
According to the minister, his attempt to remove tents put up by protesters at the car park of Salmaniya Medical Complex, Bahrain's largest health facility, was foiled after a television programme accused them of trespassing the laws.
"Now, they are determined to stay. We really need to work together to get out of this crisis and emerge stronger," he said.
