Bahrain Mirror: The Bahraini Health Minister Fa'eka Al-Saleh announced that the government of Bahrainis stopped sending Bahraini patients for medical treatment abroad.

The minister said that the Bahrainis who need health care not available in the country will not be sent outside Bahrain to receive treatment from the onset of the coming year.

Akhbar Al-Khaleej, the local newspaper linked to the Prime Minister, quoted from the Gulf Daily News that the minister said the doctors and the medical experts will be brought to the country instead, in order to treat the patients in an attempt by the government to reduce unnecessary expenses.

This step comes on the basis of declining oil prices, and aims at saving 25 million B.D spent yearly on the treatment of Bahraini citizens abroad.

The minister said that this policy will be implemented from the onset of next year, and that she committed to do so before the Cabinet.

"We cannot go forward through the current system because it does not achieve the desired purposes as it costs a lot and can be replaced by bringing the doctors to the country," she further added.

She explained that the ministry contacted several hospitals, doctors and experts in treating diseases that cannot be treated here, like certain types of cancer, and the responses was favorable.

Testing the new system, the Health Ministry brought a doctor in the previous month to monitor the treatment of six patients instead of sending them outside the country.

She further explained: "That means we will put every patient on a waiting list, then we will prepare a shortlist according to the number of patients in each category of diseases to ensure that the doctor coming will treat the maximum number of patients each time".

According to the newspaper, doctors from India, Singapore, Thailand, Germany, the United Kingdom, Belgium and the United States agreed to participate in the new program.

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