International calls for the release of detainees in Bahrain in anticipation of the coronavirus pandemic

Former President of the Royal Irish College of Surgeons, Professor Tom Collins, has called on the governing authorities in Bahrain to release political prisoners as the risk of the coronavirus pandemic increases.

Former President of the Royal Irish College of Surgeons, Professor Tom Collins, has called on the governing authorities in Bahrain to release political prisoners as the risk of the coronavirus pandemic increases.

Collins, who previously worked in Bahrain as president of the Royal Irish College of Surgeons, stressed that communities such as the homes for the elderly and prisons are an appropriate environment for a dangerous outbreak of the virus.

This came in an interview with the Arab Gulf Institute, in which he referred to Ireland’s experience in this regard, explaining that half of the number of deaths from the virus occurred in the homes of the elderly.

He noted that the unsanitary and poor health conditions of prisons reduce the risk of infection spreading inside prisons.

Regarding his experience in Bahrain, he indicated that there are political interventions with medical care, and that the decision to release the prisoners is political and not medical, especially since there is discrimination in Bahrain.

Collins called on all medical workers in the world to put pressure on the regimes that exist in part to suppress political opponents, to give the prisoners an immediate pardon, otherwise they will be exposed to a health risk and this is unacceptable, expressing his belief in the need to “conduct an international review of education and medical care in Bahrain.”