{"id":10082,"date":"2012-05-22T06:51:46","date_gmt":"2012-05-22T13:51:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=10082"},"modified":"2012-05-22T06:51:46","modified_gmt":"2012-05-22T13:51:46","slug":"bahrains-medical-underground-treats-abused-and-injured-victims-of-violence-by-regime-as-imprisoned-medics-await-trial-in-court-of-injustice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=10082","title":{"rendered":"Bahrain’s Medical Underground treats abused and injured victims of violence by regime, as imprisoned Medics await trial in court of injustice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Secret Clinics Tend to Bahrain\u2019s Wounded<\/strong>
\nBy KAREEM FAHIM – 21 May, 2012<\/p>\n

MANAMA, Bahrain \u2014 Three young men were slumped on a living room mat, groaning with pain from nuggets of birdshot lodged in a cheek, a forehead and under the lid of an eye.<\/p>\n

Dr. Ghassan Dhaif, 46, and his wife, Dr. Zahra al-Samar, were jailed last year for treating protesters. \u201cThey\u2019ve destroyed the health services in the whole country,\u201d Dr. Dhaif said.<\/p>\n

Bahrain\u2019s nightly protests had exacted their reliable toll.<\/p>\n

Friends dragged the men away from the clashes and the riot police, to a safe house nearby. Soon, it was time to go, but not to a hospital: the police were there, too. \u201cNo one goes to the hospital,\u201d one protester said.<\/p>\n

Instead, the men traveled to one of dozens of houses that are scattered throughout this island nation, where a secret and growing network of caregivers \u2014 doctors, first-aid medics or people with no medical experience at all \u2014 wait daily for the casualties from the protests. The houses are not really field hospitals, but rather sitting rooms, often equipped with nothing more than bandages and gauze.<\/p>\n

For the injured protesters, the houses have replaced the country\u2019s largest public hospital, the Salmaniya Medical Complex, which has been a crucial site in the conflict between Bahrain\u2019s ruling monarchy and its opponents since the beginning of a popular uprising in February 2011. Activists say that because of a heavy security presence at the hospital, protesters \u2014 or people fearful of being associated with Bahrain\u2019s opposition \u2014 have been afraid to venture there for more than a year. That reluctance, officials and activists say, may be responsible for several deaths.<\/p>\n

Last spring, the hospital became a symbol of the state\u2019s repression, as the government arrested \u2014 and in some cases tortured \u2014 protesters, doctors and nurses for their involvement with the uprising. As its problems persist, Salmaniya has come to represent Bahrain\u2019s dangerous impasse, marked by a growing rift between the country\u2019s Shiite majority, which has long complained of official discrimination, and the Sunni political elite.<\/p>\n

The authorities continue to prosecute Shiite doctors who worked at the hospital on charges including plotting to overthrow the government. Some of the doctors say their arrests represented a purge of Shiites, allowing the government to replace them with Sunni loyalists.<\/p>\n

A report released Monday by Physicians for Human Rights says some of the current problems at Salmaniya stem from the conduct of security forces in the hospital and at its gates. People interviewed by the group said guards stopped arriving cars and questioned the passengers. They asked what village they were from, a way of telling whether someone was Shiite or Sunni.<\/p>\n

People with physical injuries, including those possibly related to the impact of tear-gas canisters, are brought inside for additional interrogation. The report said that the hospital\u2019s chief executive, Dr. Waleed Khalifa al-Manea, had urged the Interior Ministry, which oversees security at Salmaniya, to stop the practice. …more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Secret Clinics Tend to Bahrain\u2019s Wounded By KAREEM FAHIM – 21 May, 2012 MANAMA, Bahrain \u2014 Three young men were slumped on a living room mat, groaning with pain from nuggets of birdshot lodged in a cheek, a forehead and under the lid of an eye. Dr. Ghassan Dhaif, 46, and his wife, Dr. Zahra more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[247],"tags":[3070],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10082"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10082"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10083,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10082\/revisions\/10083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}