A shortage of qualified Bahraini doctors to fill senior and specialised positions is forcing the Health Ministry to hire from abroad.

This was revealed by the ministry’s hospital affairs assistant under-secretary Dr Waleed Al Manea, who described the shortage as ‘dynamic’ and constantly shifting in line with demand, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

It comes amid complaints from a number of newly-qualified junior Bahraini doctors, who studied overseas but claimed that there were no vacancies awaiting them on their return.

“There are no Bahraini doctors who are unemployed and we can confirm that all those physicians who were trained in Bahrain have been hired under the umbrella of the Health Ministry,” said Dr Al Manea.

“Some new doctors, who graduated recently, have raised concerns about their unemployment and have pointed out that there is a shortage of doctors at Salmaniya Medical Complex.

“But we must understand that having a shortage in the public health sector is not a new phenomenon, nor is it something that we can describe as ‘high’ or ‘low’ – it is dynamic in nature.

“It keeps varying – for example, we do not suffer from a shortage of neonatal doctors as there are enough graduates in this field, but we are suffering from a shortage of consultants and specialists in other fields.”

The Health Ministry is doing its utmost to plug these gaps by instigating projects that will create an “integrated team” of Bahraini doctors, nurses and assistants, Dr Al Manea said.

“We need staff to fill all these positions,” he said.

“But new graduates cannot fill the positions of senior residents or specialists.

“Instead they can only be taken on as trainees, after which they have to undergo an additional six years of training.

“Obviously the ministry cannot wait this long to fill vacancies for senior resident or specialist positions and hence we have to resort to hiring from countries outside Bahrain such as India, Egypt and elsewhere.”

However, even hiring doctors from abroad has its problems, Dr Al Manea said.

“There are specialists and consultants from many countries who wish to take up a job in Bahrain,” he said.

“But there are barriers that prevent this, such as the language barrier – as is often the case with doctors from China – so our options are limited.

“But the fact remains, if there is an unemployed Bahraini who matches the qualifications that our hospitals need, including experience and expertise, he or she will always be the ministry’s first choice.”

Meanwhile, a team of top officials from the ministry headed by Health Minister Sadiq Al Shehabi have met the group of newly-qualified Bahraini doctors, who raised the initial complaint about a lack of employment opportunities.

Human resources and services assistant under-secretary Fatima Abdul Wahid said that there were currently 35 Bahrainis undergoing training with the ministry.

However, the number of Bahrainis studying medicine abroad was not known as there was no procedure for the ministry to keep a track of this.

“Thus we end up with new graduates, a number that is much more than the number of registered doctors in the ministry,” she said.

“This, a restricted budget and other administrative procedures contribute to the delay (in their employment).” - TradeArabia News Service