Health Minister, Faeqa bint Said Al-Saleh , has stressed His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa’s sound directives on the importance of bolstering Bahrain’s cooperation with Thailand at all levels, especially in the health sector, based on the solid ties between the two kingdoms and their peoples.

The minister made the statements while holding a meeting with her Thai counterpart, Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn, within the framework of the official visit of the Thai Prime Minister, General Prayut Chan-o-cha, to Bahrain.

Al-Saleh expressed Bahrain’s pride in the steady growth of bilateral cooperation amid the two kingdoms’ shared desire to develop them, adding that the exchange of visits between officials will contribute to opening up wider horizons of cooperation and coordination at international gatherings and serve common interests.

The minister discussed with her Thai counterpart ways to develop cooperation in the field of health, highlighting Bahrain’s Health Ministry’s desire to enhance health relations between the two countries, citing the signing of a memorandum of understanding on heath, and efforts to activate it in the future and follow up on its implementation according to the needs of the health sector in the kingdom.

The minister discussed the opportunities and areas of health cooperation between the two countries, especially regarding organising visits for doctors and consultants, exchanging medical expertise and benefiting from Thailand’s experience in the health sector with specialised medical specialties such as tumors, blood diseases, neurology, organ transplantation and marrow transplantation.

This, she said, will consolidate the “Visiting Doctor” programme started in 2016, and which has achieved remarkable success in developing health services and training Bahraini medical staff, in line with the directives of HRH the Prime Minister, Al-Saleh said.

They also discussed the possibility of availing of Thailand’s expertise in the field of health research, training programmes, advanced medical management, health insurance, pharmaceutical industry, investment methods in health facilities, alternative and traditional medicine fields, as well as areas of control and general health to ensure prevention from diseases.

The Thai minister lauded the existing relations between the two friendly kingdoms, praising Bahrain’s advanced health sector regarding services, equipment, competencies and hospitals.

He reiterated his country’s readiness to cooperate with Bahrain to develop its health sector further through academic expertise, such as universities, colleges, institutes and rare medical specialties, in addition to the activation of the MoU signed between the two sides.

The minister expressed thanks and appreciation to her Thai counterpart, expressing hope to continue holding meetings at various international gatherings, especially during the Assembly of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in May.