Bahraini doctors’ salaries are axed as they await retrial for crimes against the state

The 20 healthcare workers accused of crimes against the state during political protests in Bahrain earlier this year have had their salaries stopped without explanation.

The 20, most of whom worked at the Salmaniya medical complex, the main state hospital in the capital, Manama, were all suspended from their jobs after they were accused of committing various crimes when the hospital became a focal point of antigovernment protests in February and March. Most have continued to receive partial salary payments pending the outcome of investigations, but in October all their salaries were stopped.

“We have tried to find out why, but [the health ministry has] not answered,” said Zahra Al Samaak, an anaesthetist. The health ministry did not respond to inquiries from the BMJ.

Dr Al Samaak was sentenced to five years by a military judge on 28 September, and her husband, Ghassan Dhaif, a maxillofacial and oral surgeon, to 15 years. They deny all charges and believe that they have been targeted because they are Shia and criticised the government for its heavy crackdown on protesters.

After an international outcry over the unfair trial and long sentences, Bahrain’s attorney general announced that the 20 would be retried in a civilian court.

Hearings in the High Court of Appeal have now begun, but defence lawyers say that the previous sentences have not been revoked (BMJ 2011;343:d6910, doi:10.1136/bmj.d6910).

“We can only think that our salaries were cut because we were convicted,” said Dr Al Samaak, speaking on the telephone from Bahrain. “It completely contradicts the idea that we are getting a new trial and are innocent before being proved guilty. But that’s how it is.”

Many of the 20 have mortgages and other fixed outgoings. Some have been allowed recently to practise privately, but many cannot find alternative employment because of the ongoing legal case against them.

The 20 doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers have faced the most serious charges—taking control of a hospital, possessing weapons, and sectarian discrimination against patients—but other members of staff have been accused of lesser crimes against the state, which they deny, and have also lost their jobs and salaries.

The US based group Physicians for Human Rights understands that in all 211 professionals have been suspended from their state health service jobs and 31 have been fired. The group understands that the government has now begun recruiting healthcare professionals, but it is not clear whether the suspended workers will be replaced.

Many of the accused also worked for private health clinics or educational institutions and have lost that work too.

One doctor, who was suspended from work at the Salmaniya hospital in May, found that his salary was almost simultaneously stopped, without any notification, by the medical school run by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in Bahrain, which employed him as a part time clinical lecturer. The doctor, who wishes to remain anonymous, has not been paid since, despite having a contract with the college for a period running up to July. He is still being investigated but has not been charged with any crime.

The college acknowledged to the BMJ in October that it had stopped payments to lecturers unable to continue clinical teaching but insisted that it had notified them (BMJ 2011;343:d6719, doi:10.1136/bmj.d6719). The college has now declined to comment further.