Bahrain needs 300 Pinoy medical workers

BAHRAIN – The Bahraini government, thru the Royal Family, prefers Filipino workers compared to other nationalities.

Prime Minister Price Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa is overwhelmed after the Aquino government recently lifted the ban on the deployment of Filipino workers to Bahrain.

He faced the media for the first time as the situation in Bahrain normalizes following a series of anti-government protests in the past months.

Apart from nurses, the government hospitals also need doctors, radiologists and physical therapists.

The labor work force in Bahrain consists mostly of Indians and Pakistanis. But Prince Khalifa believes more on the Filipino worker.

Prince Khalifa assured that Filipino workers are relatively safe in Bahrain. He also justified the use of force to neutralize sporadic political disturbances over the past weeks.

Philippine Ambassador to Bahrain Corazon Bahjin took the rounds of visiting Filipino nurses at the Bahrain Specialist Hospital in Central Manama.

She checked on their work conditions and likewise met with the hospital’s Chief Executive Officer, Doctor Kasim Ardati.

Ambassador Bahjin revealed that a prospective nurse applicant stands to receive a monthly salary of $1,700 without tax.

Since it’s the Ministry of Health of Bahrain that will hire them, the applicants need not have to pay for a placement fee, but only minimum expenses.

Part of their benefits would be free housing and a yearly round-trip plane fare to Manila. –Danny Buenafe, ABS-CBN Middle East News Bureau Chief