Bahrain Feature: The Underground Network of Doctors (Wellman)
Monday, July 16, 2012 at 8:44
Makeshift Clinic in BahrainIt is Friday night and Dr. Mohamed is on standby.
“It’s always the busiest day of the week for us,” he says as he holds out his cell phone to show a photo he received seconds earlier. The image is of a young man with birdshot embedded in his leg. It is a call for help.
“The government has been using a lot of birdshot on demonstrators lately,” he explains, “and the wounded come to us for treatment.”
Dr. Mohamed, who asked to have his full name withheld, is part of an underground network of medics in Bahrain who provide illegal care for anti-government protesters injured in nightly clashes with security forces. Most of those hurt refuse to go to either public or private hospitals, no matter how grave their wounds, fearing they will be arrested there.