DOCTORS are being flown in from abroad to treat patients with ailments that require specific overseas expertise, a top minister has said.
Health Minister Faeqa Al Saleh also revealed that hi-tech diagnosis and treatment equipment for rare ailments have been installed in government hospitals in an effort to help citizens.
The measures are part of a government drive to reduce costs on providing treatment abroad for citizens.
“We haven’t cut costs at the expense of patients,” Ms Al Saleh told MPs.
“We are trying to give them the best treatment and care, on par with international standards, at our own government facilities.”
The minister highlighted that around BD50 million had been spent on providing treatment for citizens in private facilities in the country and abroad from 2018 until September last year.
“The ministry spent BD15m on 885 patients in 2018, BD11.542m on 1,036 citizens in 2019 and BD10.6m on 403 patients in 2020,” she said.
“We spent BD11m from January until September last year to help 519 people with various illnesses.”
Ms Al Saleh explained that the cases varied from kidney, heart and lung transplants and complex operations for children and adults, to tumours, radiotherapy, seizure, Parkinson equipment installation and eye operations.
The minister also responded to another question on food inspections by Parliament Speaker Fouzia Zainal.
“Officials have been inspecting hotels and restaurants to check for violations,” she said.
“A total of 184 cases were registered last year, compared with 37 in 2019 and 62 in 2020.”
Meanwhile, on a question by foreign affairs, defence and national security committee vice-chairman Isa Al Dossary on the number of employees under the ministry, she said 6,119 people were currently registered under its books.
“It includes doctors, dentists, nurses and service personnel in primary healthcare, hospitals and health centres staff. Among them, 1,504 are expatriates and the rest are Bahrainis,” said the minister.
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