Bahrain admits attack on medical site

[Bilal Mahmud المكافح المخلص]

  Bahrain admits attack on medical site

A wounded man is treated in Salmaniya hospital in the Bahraini capital, Manama. (file photo)

Bahraini authorities have acknowledged that its troops attacked a medical center run by the Paris-based Doctors Without Borders (MSF), claiming it was “unlicensed.”

The conformation came a day after MSF had criticized the “armed raid” in Manama, the capital of Bahrain.

MSF called the raid a “breach of the sanctity of an office maintained by a neutral medical humanitarian organization,” AFP reported.

"As MSF was aware, a license was required to provide health services in Bahrain in the current normal circumstances. The existence of this centre was not known to the relevant Bahraini authorities," the country's health ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

The health ministry further condemned the MSF, saying it was “disappointed by the serious allegations” it had made.

MSF had issued a statement on its website Wednesday regarding the July 28 attack, saying Bahraini troops had confiscated their medical equipment and detained Saeed Mahdi, one of their volunteer workers.

"Despite only assisting MSF and a patient by calling an ambulance, Saeed Mahdi remains detained. Repeated requests by MSF, his family, and his lawyer to have access to him have been denied," MSF said.

The health ministry, however, denied the accusation and claimed that Mahdi's family had paid him a visit on Wednesday.

MSF had also earlier voiced regret that it “appears that in Bahrain today, acting within the common boundaries of the duty of care principle... is no longer possible without negative repercussions.”

MSF further explained that it had, since the anti-regime demonstrations began in mid-February, treated some 200 patients who had feared being arrested if they had visited a government hospital.

It also said how it “has been transparent about its work and its intentions with the authorities in the country, including the Ministries of Health and Interior.”

This is not the first condemnation of Bahrain's Al Khalifa regime by the international community for attacking and arresting medical staff during crackdowns on anti-regime protesters.

Both the United Nations Human Rights office as well as Amnesty International has criticized the Al Khalifa regime for its violent crackdown and arrest of peaceful protesters as well as medical staff.

On May 14, Richard Sollom of Physicians for Human Rights told Press TV that the Bahraini regime is systematically targeting doctors because they possess evidence that the Bahraini government's crackdown on protesters has been extremely heavy-handed.

PM/JG/MB

 

 

 

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