Establishment of the Bahraini Family Physicians Association
The Bahrain Medical Society has approved the activation of the Bahraini Family Physicians Association. The Board of Directors was elected as follows:
• Prof Dr Faisal Alnaser President
• Dr Amal Dawood Vice President
• Dr Ali Albaqara General Secretary
• Dr Bashayer Habeeb, Treasurer
• Dr Hana Alfayez Board Member
Prof Alnaser stated that a few of the most important goals of the association are to consolidate the concept of family medicine in society, improve family medicine services in the Kingdom, strengthen the status of family doctors in the community, and provide family doctors with the latest medical methods and discoveries for the better care of patients. The association will aim in organizing educational courses, conferences, and seminars on a regional and international level. Since scientific research is vital for the progress and development of Medicine and in particular primary care and family medicine, the association will strive to engage the doctors in such activity and strengthen collaboration with scientific bodies, both regionally and internationally.
It is worth mentioning that the Kingdom of Bahrain is one of the first Arab countries to adopt the Family Medicine specialty when it was established more than 43 years ago the Family Practice Residency Program (FPRP). It is a high-standard four years training and teaching program to prepare doctors to be qualified family physicians. It continued to graduate family doctors since 1982. These physicians had an important role in improving the health status of Bahrain and its population as well as influenced the promotion of the specialty in the Gulf and the Arab regions.
The pioneering Bahraini family physicians held many presidential, educational, and training positions in the Arab Board for Health Specializations and many other national, regional, and international institutions. Moreover, they helped in establishing family medicine training programs in many different Arab countries and supervised the periodic examinations that are held to graduate family physicians in the Arab world.