Manama, April 08: An international medical and humanitarian organization says Bahrain has militarized the kingdom’s hospitals in an effort to deter the popular revolution against the ruling monarchy.
On Thursday, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) confirmed earlier reports that Manama-paid forces would swoop on the country’s medical centers soon after injured patients trust medical authorities with their identification and inform them that their injuries are protest-related.
“Health facilities are used as bait to identify and arrest those who seek treatment,” said medical coordinator for the MSF Latifa Ayada, AFP reported.
“Wounds, especially those inflicted by distinctive police and military gunfire are used to identify people for arrest, and the denial of medical care is being used by Bahraini authorities to deter people from protesting,” she added.
The organization said the Persian Gulf island’s hospitals and clinics has been turned into ‘places of fear.’
A report by the body bore testimonies from patients, who had been admitted to the country’s largest Salmaniya hospital in the capital. One victim’s account showed that he had been battered on the wound from a rubber bullet that struck him at close range.
A visit by MSF on March 21 found the facility nearly empty.
Earlier in the month, a Press TV correspondent reported that the hospital looked more like a military zone and was being patrolled by secret police.
Dozens of people have been killed and thousands of others injured since February 14, when the public started a popular revolution against the royal family that has been ruling the island for more than 200 years.
Led by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain’s Arab neighbors deployed their troops to the country in mid-March to reinforce the armed attacks against protesters. The reinforcements have reportedly contributed to an increase in the use of violence against protesters.
Other reports by human rights groups have pointed to doctors and ambulances also facing armed attacks and terror tactics.
Last month, Saudi snipers were sighted gunning down a nurse, targeting the medical staffer as she was trying to reach the Salmaniya hospital.
——–Agencies