The Main Government Hospital in Bahrain
Translated by @Bahdemo
A doctor reciting the events:
Part(1):
I shall recite the events on the night of the attack on the Pearl Roundabout and the day of the attack as I was present at the Salmania hospital. On the afternoon of the 15th of March, I headed towards the hospital as a volunteer to help and assist in treating the wounded as the attack was expected. The hospital was like a beehive, everyone was helping out and most of the Salmania employees stayed even after their working hours to assist and volunteer. I was astonished to find that there was a big tent erected opposite of the emergency entrance within a few hours and was equipped with many beds and medical supplies. The volunteers were a mix of doctors, nurses and heads of sections; even some young men were helping out in equipping the place and carrying the heavy stuff around.
Following is a picture of the equipped tent:
And this is how the entrance of the emergency looked like:
During the evening, some news were coming in that the police and some members of the army have attacked an ambulance and some paramedics been beaten up with some ending up wounded. 6 ambulances got stolen by the police along with some armed men.. it was then that we expected something to happen.. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMw-MNhldWQ )
With this aggressive message, we realized that the police (government) doesn’t want us to treat any protest related casualties/injuries. I felt I was in a different country.
With this aggressive message, we realized that the police (government) doesn’t want us to treat any protest related casualties/injuries. I felt I was in a different country.
At dawn, a prayer was being recited loudly in the emergency room section; everybody was expecting something horrendous next. At 5am, all mobile networks were disconnected, our mobiles had no coverage and we could see that a helicopter was flying on a low altitude in the area.
Everyone interpreted the mobile coverage disconnection that a disaster was about to happen, some people started shouting that they had some relatives at the Pearl Roundabout and wanted to warn them but couldn’t because they were unreachable.
At 6am, I decided to head back home to fetch some stuff, when I left the hospital, the streets were empty and scary , on the highway, I saw some army tanks heading towards the roundabout, I tried to call my colleagues to warn them then I decided to head back to the hospital, but by the traffic light, some masked army men stopped me and asked me where was I heading, when I told them that I was heading the Salmania Hospital where I work, one of them yelled at me and said I couldn’t go back because all what happened and will happen was because of us, and ordered me to head back.
While heading back, I saw some Apachi helicopters on a very low altitude to the extent that I saw their machine guns, and from the direction of the roundabout, I saw huge black smoke then I knew that they have attacked the roundabout. I started crying and I couldn’t head back home as all the streets were blocked so I decided to head the other direction towards some relatives house in Sitra. While driving in Sitra I saw the soldiers in the helicopters firing at some targets in Sitra. The sound of the firing was very sharp; I could tell this is live firing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4yKxyXR-sI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhVatUkebmM&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmJ2XxUX4ws&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZXuVWACvuo&feature=related
I entered the house and couldn’t leave until the next day.
Part (2)
Today I will bring out some of what we have experiences of the rowdy actions and abuses within the Salmania hospital and how the medical crew rights were violated during this crisis that reveled the despotism and tyranny of the Bahraini security forces.
Of course after the invasion of the Salmania hospital by the army on the 18th of March, followed by a fierce campaign of raids and arrests that even the patients and wounded weren’t spared of. And this was followed by another campaign of searching for everyone who participated in a protest, march or a TV interview. There were police checkpoints by the entrance of the Salmania hospital, at which we were inspected, shortly interrogated and our names on our ID cards were being check against a list they had of the names of targeted medical staff (doctors/nurses..etc).
We experienced a lot of humiliation and threats to get arrested at those checkpoints within the hospital, by masked police men whereas by the entrance of the emergency department we were physically inspected and had our purses inspected, some of personal belongings were inspected by masked policewomen dressed in riot police uniforms and holding guns. There were many of them all around the hospital.
We felt threatened when we heard that our colleagues got arrested, beaten up and harassed within the hospital and at their work locations, the hospital has its own sanctity and inviolability that should have been respected, but they have crossed all the lines and world known customs, we used to head to the hospital for work knowing we are threatened and could never return back home later. Masked army and police members were scattered within the hospital in large numbers holding machine guns.
The cars that were vandalized by the police on the day of crackdown were filling the street opposite to the medical college; even the cars parked in the hospital parking lot weren’t spared the vandalism. One of my friends had her phone check at the checkpoint by a masked police man, and found the picture of the Pearl Roundabout in her phone image library and told her ” were you going there to have fun (Muta’a – which means a short type of marriage) you illegitimate daughter of pleasure marriage”
What happened in Salmania of attacked on the medical staff and patients is a shameful stigma of the Bahraini dictator government.
Part(3)
On the 30th of last March, on Thursday, in the maternity ward in the Salmania hospital, it was 1.30pm when we noticed a strange unexpected movement by the entrance of the medical complex, as some masked police and army members were trying to enter the building, and I was present at the maternity warm that moment and have witnessed all the events until the end..
One of the nurses headed towards the door to explore what was happening and suddenly they all entered in a huge number while shouting and screaming “ no one moves” – the nurse informed them that this was a maternity ward and it wasn’t acceptable for them to enter it in this way, they yelled at her to shut up and continued raiding the ward.
Amongst the army and police men, there were some unmasked men wearing thoub and ghetra (the traditional Bahraini dress) holding stick – seemed to be from the investigation department. They asked us all (medical staff and visitors) to hand out our phones and not move. They also asked the admin employees to open their lockers, the locked ones were broken and the items were inspected. All the prayer books/religious magazines were torn apart and a Shiite magazine by the name “ashoura” was found and raised by one of the men who asked “to which traitor does this magazine belong to?”
After inspecting the lockers, they started inspecting the whole ward, each and every corner of it, even the operations room was entered where it should remain sterilized and they went through all the surgical equipment and tools which contaminated them, then they targeting the ceiling and started inspecting the insides of the ceiling claiming they were looking for hidden weapons.
One of the men shouted at us, “who have assisted the traitors; anyone has weapons or prohibited/illegal items, if no one admits we will punish you severely”, some nurses were interrogated in a closed room where we heard their screams and some loud threats at them to be arrested and humiliated if they didn’t admit. One of the staff passed out of fear where they came out and asked for her full name, and then they inspected her physically saying if she was a criminal she wouldn’t have passed out of fear !!
We were asked not to talk or move or write anything, one of the nurses was caught writing and a man shouted at her “no one writes a thing”; they gathered all our phones and put them in a basket where a group of those men were inspecting and going through the contents of those phones searching for anything related to the protestors or patients. One of the nurses entered the nursery as one of the babies was crying; she was followed by a masked man who pointed the gun at her asking what was she doing!!
The maternity patient rooms were raided by masked policewomen who inspecting the rooms inch by inch leaving the patients terrified. The ward computer systems were also inspected where one computer was taken in a big black plastic bag.
They have inspected a sealed tube envelope containing a printer ink as if it contained a bomb and was about to explode – treating it with cautiousness living a James Bond movie. We were threatened not to call or pick up the phones if anyone called – and no side talks.
One of the doctors wanted to leave the ward and she was denied that, they were treating everyone in a very rude manner as one nurse was yelled at “why are you looking at us this way” as they got agitated if anyone starred at them.
For your information, a day prior to the crackdown, one of the female doctors was escorted by an army member and made signed on some areas of the ceiling – and when they attacked the Salmania Hospital next day, they were claiming that there were hidden weapons and people in the ceiling, after which they started disassembling the ceiling during their fruitless search for those hidden weapons and people.
They did not spare an effort to scare us with their shouting and gun pointing, crossing all lines of the hospital and patients sanctity – this nightmare continues until 3 , everyone entering the hospital was held captive with us, phone confiscated and no one was allowed to leave afterwards.
Part (4)
On the 17th March, a day after the army took over the Salmania Hospital, a friend called me and told me that they were held captive for two days and they were very tired. She asked me to bring some food as they were very hungry with no food left – the hospital canteen was closed down and no restaurant would deliver food under such circumstances. She also asked me to bring over some clothes and personal items – but at some later time she called again said that they might be allowed to leave the next morning and there wasn’t a need to risk and go over.
The next day, I recollected myself and went over to Salmania , the streets were empty, no one was on the streets except masked army forces everywhere ! when I almost reach Salmania Medical Complex, I was stopped at a police checkpoint where my car was inspected thoroughly and had my name be checked against a list of names they had (I assumed it was the list of the doctors/medical staff names wanted for investigations) – I got inspected the same way at two more checkpoints down the same road before reaching the hospital.
The road sides were filled with smashed up cars, mostly belonging to the medical staff, some perhaps to the patients! When I reached to the gate, I was physically inspected by masked policewomen who made me feel humiliated.
The situation within the Salmania hospital was very scary as the masked policemen and army forces were standing on each corner asking for ID, yet the emergency department was empty, no patients and so were many other sections of the hospital, we were out of medical staff as well because of the besiege.
Many patients’ conditions deteriorated because there weren’t enough food supply nor medical staff and the ones around were already exhausted.
I saw one patient being taken into the ICU with a masked man on top of the patient holding his hands down, surrounded by other policemen pointing guns at the patient, it was a heart wrenching scene and we weren’t allowed to get close.
There were groups/teams of those policemen raiding the wards looking for injured protestors, and any suspects get beaten-up – I witnessed how a doctor was dragged out of one of the wards, had his hands tied up and got arrested, another doctor had three fractures in his leg out of severe beating – all doctors and nurses were targeted at this point!
I hope my testimonies bring out the truth that the authorities want to hide – and I hope everyone take same steps and bring out to the world all the violations that took place.
Part (5)
I shall recite what happened on 18th Feb in this part – a day which witnessed a lot of bloody events and I myself have witnessed what happened to the martyr Redha bu Hameed.
On this day, I headed towards Salmania at 4pm to attend the medical staff protest against the Health Minister who denied the ambulances from leaving the hospital towards the Pearl Roundabout to reach out to the injured protestors as several paramedics/doctors got beaten up by the police. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1_Nwjd89Kw ) The protest included many differently ranked medical staff demanding to know the reasons behind those violations.
By 5, we received news that some protestors injuries were arriving, those who were walking along a funeral and headed towards the Pearl Roundabout – where live bullets and teargases were shot at them by the army and police. We all headed towards the emergency and the casualties were being brought over – some by cars and some were carried by other protestors – mostly were suffocation cases – that’s when we heard shoting sounds near the Salmania as the forces followed the protestors towards the Salmania. Most of the serious injuries were of pellet bullets and live bullets – the number of wounded were large and that’s when I saw the Martyr Redha Bu Hameed with his swollen head and Dr. Nehad Al Shirawi was trying to resuscitate him, pictures as follows:
They continues resuscitating him, but his head was getting more and more swollen because of the internal bleeding – that’s when he was taken to the x-ray which revealed how severely he was injured in his brain by live bullet.
X-rays showing the live bullet in the martyr Redha Bu Hameed head:
Other X-rays showing another injured protestor in his thigh by live bullet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH0jMHsR30U
