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Bahrain Health and Welfare
In 1925, when Bahrain was a British protectorate, the
government established free medical service, including
immunization, outpatient treatment, and hospitalization.
The
availability of preventive and curative health care led to
the
virtual eradication of such endemic and infectious
diseases as
smallpox, trachoma, and dysentery. By the 1980s, life
expectancy
was estimated at sixty-five years. In 1993 Bahrain's
comprehensive health care system included facilities for
inpatient and outpatient dental care, general medical
care,
maternity care, orthopedic care, pediatric care, and
psychiatric
care. Almost all primary and secondary treatment within
the
public health system is free to citizens and foreign
residents.
The largest public hospital is the 1,000-bed Salmaniya
Medical Center, which opened in 1978. The center is a
general
teaching hospital that has accident and emergency
facilities and
fully equipped laboratories. More than one-half of
Bahrain's 400
physicians work at Salmaniya. The public health system
also
includes twenty-seven regional health centers that provide
such
primary care as diagnostic services, minor surgery,
dentistry,
prenatal and postnatal care, and general family medical
care. In
addition, the system includes sixteen child welfare
centers. The
government also maintains the 135-bed Bahrain Military
Hospital,
which is reserved for members of the armed forces and
their
families.
In 1992 there were two small private hospitals in
Bahrain.
The forty-five-bed American Mission Hospital, operated by
the
United States-based Arabian Mission of the Dutch Reformed
Church,
is the oldest hospital in the country and is one of the
oldest on
the Arab side of the Persian Gulf. Many members of the
country's
ruling elite were born at this hospital, and they continue
to
come to it for medical care. The newer, twenty-three-bed
International Hospital caters to very wealthy patients.
The government established a social security system in
1976.
The General Organization of Social Insurance (GOSI) was
set up to
administer the program, which provides pensions (since
1986) and
compensation for work-related accidents. Only Bahraini
citizens
are eligible for retirement pensions, but both nationals
and
foreign workers are covered against accidents. GOSI
required all
companies employing at least ten persons to participate in
the
program. GOSI collects 7 percent of an employee's monthly
salary
for the pension program and requires employers to
contribute an
additional amount equivalent to 11 percent of a Bahraini's
monthly pay. Employers pay an extra 3 percent of their
payrolls
to cover all employees against accidents.
Data as of January 1993
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