A TOUGH crackdown has been pledged on health violations after two illegal cosmetic practitioners were arrested over the last five days.
Bahrain’s health regulator chief vowed to step up inspections after an Arab expatriate woman was caught drawing tattoos illegally at her Manama apartment.
Another Filipino woman was caught last week for allegedly prescribing and administering intravenous drugs to ‘whiten skin’ illegally – a practice condoned globally by health regulators.
Both women were caught red-handed during investigations carried out by the National Health Regulatory Authority in co-ordination with security and judicial officials.
NHRA chief executive Dr Maryam Al Jalahma yesterday said the Arab expatriate did not have a licence to ink tattoos. She was also allegedly using medicines and equipment that were not approved in Bahrain.
“We have seized pharmaceutical materials and medical supplies, in addition to a number of medicines that are not licensed in Bahrain. They were being used to do the procedures,” Dr Al Jalahma said.
“The incident was reported to the NHRA and we verified it with judiciary officials and further co-ordinated with the General Directorate of Criminal Investigations and Forensic Evidence.”
The case has been transferred to the Public Prosecution.
The GDN reported in August that the NHRA had warned of unlicensed tattoo products that have flooded Bahrain’s market over the last two years. It said that the permanent ink used in such products contains harmful chemicals which could pose a grave threat to customers.
The authority posted pictures of products that are smuggled into the country on its social media to create awareness among the public.
Meanwhile, four medical centres across Bahrain were shut down with licences revoked as part of NHRA’s crackdown on unsafe medical procedures and facilities.
The GDN reported yesterday that the actions were taken over ‘gross violations’.
“The centres were located in different areas in Bahrain and most of the violations were related to aesthetic practices,” said Dr Al Jalahma.
“The facilities employed unlicensed individuals, provided illegal services and used unauthorised equipment and expired drugs.
“The accountability committee at the NHRA investigated the violations with the directors in charge of the centres. Further, in the presence of a judge, the probe panel decided to shut down the centres and gave the authority a deadline to revoke their licences.”
Dr Al Jalahma said the authority would now step up inspections following a drop in Covid-19 cases.
The GDN reported in April that 588 violations were registered in healthcare facilities across Bahrain last year which was revealed as NHRA inspectors conducted 1,226 inspections.
However, 75 per cent of it were corrected by the end of the year. A total of 333 were general violations in which building safety (157) accounted for the largest segment, while others were related to devices safety (79), licensing (33), external contracts (27), patient privacy (26), stamp safety (six) and advertisements (five). Another 179 violations were in infection control – 70 pertained to sterilisation and 109 were related to medical waste. Of the 76 medication violations, 31 involved storage, 18 were linked to expiry dates and 27 log sheet related. NHRA took action against 156 violations.
raji@gdn.com.bh
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