Shenaz Kermalli<\/p>\n
HAVANA TIMES, April 8 (IPS) \u2014 Salmaniya Medical Complex, once one of the most renowned medical facilities in the Gulf and a jewel in the crown of Bahrain\u2019s public healthcare system, has been transformed into a virtual ghost town.<\/p>\n
Its gates and front entrance are barricaded with checkpoints and masked military officers, armed with rifles. Its emergency room, once the busiest in the country, is empty.<\/p>\n
And, according to eyewitness reports collected by Human Rights Watch, hospital staff say security and military forces have sought out and threatened, beaten and detained patients with protest-related injuries.<\/p>\n
These patients are then systematically segregated from the rest of the patient population and transferred to the sixth floor, where they are virtually inaccessible to anyone, including family.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are more military officers in the hospital than patients,\u201d says Faraz Sanei, a Human Rights Watch observer who has recently been inside Salmaniya. \u201cIt is not a normal environment or safe haven for patients. Patients and staff have told us there\u2019s a security lockdown and doctors from there are very frightened to speak.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that it\u2019s empty means there\u2019s not much of an inflow of patients going in. People don\u2019t want to go there because they\u2019re afraid,\u201d he adds. …more<\/a><\/p>\n