Bahrain's defences against swine flu or any other potential pandemic have been seriously undermined by the failure of a private hospital to follow strict procedures.
A "strict warning" from the Health Ministry is not enough, for this is a failure which had the potential to threaten all our lives, in allowing a possible swine flu victim back out into the community unchecked.
As usual, authorities would not name the hospital concerned, since what amounts to a private business interest appears to take priority over the public's right to know.
Such a dangerous breach of procedures designed to safeguard the health of the nation warrants a full, independent inquiry from which the results should be made public, along with the name of the offending hospital.
This incident will not be an isolated one and is symptomatic of the dangers inherent in the considerable growth in the number of private hospitals and clinics in this country.
This growth is being actively encouraged as Bahrain moves towards introducing private health insurance for all expatriates, to ease the burden on the national health service.
The population now tops one million and is still growing, at a far faster rate than the government health services can keep up with, the results of which are already evident at the overwhelmed Salmaniya Medical Complex.
But as the number of private institutions increases, so must the government's ability to monitor and control them, to ensure they consistently meet appropriate standards - an ability already lacking.
This potentially catastrophic breach, fortunately the patient concerned was not infected with swine flu, though he had returned from a high-risk country, was probably down to the enemy of all safety mechanisms - human error.
But the fact that the hospital did not have an isolation area and that even when the danger was realised still failed to act appropriately is deeply disturbing.
Why has the government, as part of its defence strategy, not checked on the facilities of all private hospitals and clinics and ensured that all staff know what they should be doing in the event of a suspected case of swine flu arising?
The answer will be that it does not have the physical resources to visit and inspect every institution in such a short time and therein lies a potentially fatal flaw.
lhorton@gdn.com.bh
