Delegation travels to Bahrain in bid to secure doctors\u2019 release
\n03 July 2011 By Susan Mitchell Health Correspondent<\/p>\n
An Irish delegation that includes several politicians plans to travel to Bahrain on July 12 in an effort to pressurise the Bahraini authorities to release arrested doctors and nurses there.<\/p>\n
The group will include MEP Marian Harkin, former minister for foreign affairs David Andrews and Fianna F\u00e1il senator Averil Power.<\/p>\n
The group wants the Bahraini authorities to release the doctors and nurses who were arrested during the pro-democracy demonstrations in the Gulf nation earlier this year.<\/p>\n
Their plight has been followed by the world\u2019s media but has a particular resonance in Ireland as three of the Bahraini doctors trained at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI).<\/p>\n
The group includes orthopaedic surgeon Professor Damien McCormack, who is one of a number of doctors to criticised the RCSI for its failure to condemn strongly the actions of the Bahraini authorities.<\/p>\n
The RCSI\u2019s critics claim it has been compromised by its financial interests in Bahrain. The RCSI denies this. It said working quietly behind the scenes was more effective. …more<\/a><\/p>\n