PARLIAMENT yesterday unanimously approved an urgent proposal to call for efforts to find jobs for unemployed Bahraini doctors.
Tempers flared as MPs voiced concern over the plight of hundreds of unemployed Bahraini doctors.
The motion pointed out that more than 8,900 foreigners have taken up positions in the nation’s health sector while hundreds of qualified Bahraini doctors, some of whom have graduated with distinctions, remain unemployed.
Ahmed Al Saloom said Bahrain is perhaps the only country with unemployed doctors.
“I found a doctor working as a security officer in one of the companies and this is unacceptable,” he said.
According to him, the number of doctors working in the Health Ministry was 1,270 in 2015, 1,202 in 2016 and 1,160 in 2017.
“Last April, around 380 doctors applied for jobs but only 70 were accepted.
“I also found that 8,993 of the jobs in the ministry were taken up by expatriates and we want to focus on this and ensure they are taken up by Bahrainis.”
Hamad Al Kooheji highlighted the demanding courses medical students go through for years, besides financial burdens, to eventually return to Bahrain and remain unemployed.
“All these years of study will be wasted if the doctors do not actually get to practise their profession,” he said.
He stressed the importance of prioritising this proposal and stated that health centres and hospitals are dominated by expatriates.
MP Ghazi Al Rahma urged the government to review employment policies and adopt the urgent proposal and replace expatriates with Bahrainis in both the public and private sectors.
“Bahrainis have become cheap in the labour market to a degree that we have doctors who are unemployed which is unacceptable,” he stressed.
MP Dr Masooma Hassan voiced concern over the risk of increased medical errors if graduates did not practise the profession immediately.
Saying that he believed there are many countries with unemployed local doctors, Parliament and Shura Council Affairs Minister Ghanim Al Buainain suggested postponing a discussion on the issue for the concerned authorities to be present.
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