RCSI turning blind eye to cruelty in Bahrain

As an Irish surgeon I am ashamed to read yet another carefully wordeddenial by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) of “ongoing” abuses in Bahrain.

My colleague and friend Aki Alekri, who trained in Ireland and who is an alumni of RCSI, has survived the most outrageous maltreatment and torture at the hands of the Bahraini regime. He remains incarcerated there. Dr Fatima Haji, a tutor in RCSI when she was abducted and tortured by the Bahraini regime, continues to live with those memories and scars. Bassim Dhaif and his brother Ghassan, both of whom trained in Ireland and are alumni of RCSI, were also abducted and tortured for months; so also 50 other medics and paramedics and nurses in Bahrain in 2011. Their suffering continues.

RCSI continues to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to the widespread oppression and cruelty in Bahrain. Their few public comments are both conceited and prevaricated. Their students are aware that any public complaint against the regime may destroy them and their families.

RCSI hopes that the public will forget Ali Alekri and all of the Bahraini medics. They hope in vain. I hope the Irish Medical Council and the Minister for Education fulfil their responsibilities to the Irish public to ensure that our medical colleges are not allowed to become uncharitable, for-profit transnational corporations trading on the reputations of the many good doctors and nurses in this country who deserve better.

Professor Damian McCormack

Orthopaedic surgeon

Eccles St

Dublin 1