[The following report was issued by the Bahrain Center for Human Rights on 8 April 2013.]
Bahrain: Limited Medical Access and Breach of Medical Neutrality
Introduction
On 16 March 2011, approximately half an hour after the attack on the Pearl Square, the military and security forces besieged the Salmaniya Medical Complex and allowed no one to enter or leave the premises. Shortly afterwards, they commenced arresting wounded protesters inside the hospital; those with severe injuries were detained inside the Medical Complex, while those with minor injuries were moved to a different location. The Emergency Unit was put on complete lockdown, and those with severe injuries were moved to the sixth level of the hospital. All the rooms were guarded by the military and all Bahraini medics were not allowed to enter those rooms. The entire medical complex was then searched with police dogs, looking for injured protesters in different wards.
Several medics attempted to leave the medical complex, but at reaching the gates of the complex, they were stopped, beaten, and sent back inside. All phone lines inside the Medical Complex were temporarily cut off, preventing communication between the different wards and the outside. Then the medics started getting arrested.
This was only the beginning of a long crackdown, which continues today, on medics and access to health in Bahrain.
This report was created to show the extensive impact of the security crackdown on the right to access to health, and the results of the ongoing situation thereof.
[Click here to download the full report.]