A MAJOR legislation that could lead to a minimum percentage of Bahrainisation of jobs in private hospitals, medical centres and clinics across the country is set to be debated by the Shura Council on Sunday.
Amendments to the 2015 Private Medical Establishments Law have been recommended for approval by Shura’s services committee, chaired by Dr Jameela Al Salman.
The panel said the Supreme Council for Health (SCH) should ensure that sufficient medical professionals are available, with priority given to Bahrainis, except in rare specialisations where qualified citizens are unavailable.
She, however, added that the 50 per cent mandatory Bahrainisation, proposed by Parliament, would be difficult to achieve.
“According to statistics presented by the Labour Ministry until June 2024, Bahraini graduates in the general medical specialisation are 516, out of 1,052 job-seekers,” Dr Al Salman pointed out.
“The 50pc sought by MPs disregards specialisations, which could see hospitals employing medics across departments that don’t need them, in a bid to avoid penalties or punishments,” she explained.
“This is where the legislation has gone wrong, otherwise prioritising Bahraini medics is the right approach. So we have given the authority to the SCH to determine the percentages and accordingly grant licences for medics to do work.”
Labour Ministry assistant under-secretary for labour affairs Ahmed Al Hayki said licences for expats are only granted following consultations with the National Health Regulatory Authority (NHRA).
“Bahrainis are being prioritised in the private medical sector, with several initiatives, incentives and schemes benefiting them, including wages and continuous training,” he said.
Health Minister Dr Jalila Al Sayyed said Bahraini medics are preferred over expatriates, even if latter have more years of experience.
“Qualified citizens are given preference for every vacancy before an expat,” she added. “Tamkeen (Labour Fund) initiatives have also helped Bahrainis by putting them in a stronger position for recruitment.”
She said there are rare and new specialisations, including dermatology surgery, pain management, nuclear radiology, undersea and hyperbaric, and toxicology that follow certain international standards and not everyone can take up the roles.
“We have a list of approved specialisations for which no Bahrainis are currently available, such as nuclear medicine, minimally invasive gynaecological surgery/robotic surgery, paediatric sport medicine, breast aesthetics and reconstructive surgery and forensic pathology,” Dr Al Sayyed said.
“The NHRA has recently added several specialisations such as bariatric procedures fellowship, epilepsy and EEG, marriage and family psychotherapy and musculoskeletal imaging/intervention.”
She added that experts in adolescence medicine, electromyography technicians and hair transplant technicians are unavailable in the country.
Tamkeen said, in writing, that forcing Bahrainisation would affect investment and even rob Bahrainis of future jobs in the medical field.
The Bahrain Chamber also said in writing that the proposed move was ‘noble in concept’, but the 50pc quota would be impractical.
“There is supply and demand in the labour market for certain professions and it is illogical to put someone in a specialisation they don’t know anything about, just to keep the percentage,” the chamber said.
The Private Medical Establishments Association said the Bahrainisation move should be voluntary and not compulsory.
“It will certainly negatively affect medical tourism as people wouldn’t come here knowing that the right person may not attend to them,” it added.
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