Male medics will be banned from labour theatres in all of Bahrain's maternity hospitals under controversial legislation approved by MPs yesterday. Only female health staff will be allowed into the theatres, except in serious cases when a male specialist is required.

The proposal was submitted by parliament's Al Asala Bloc, an Islamist group, and was passed by a narrow margin despite opposition from some MPs.

In its original form the bill would have banned all men from labour theatres, which opponents said was impossible in the event of complications that required a male specialist.

However, it went through after it was amended to allow male experts in if required.

Opponents to the bill included parliament services committee vice-chairman Dr Jamal Saleh, who described it as ridiculous.

"There are different specialisations required in the labour room and all are necessary," he said.

"In most cases they are done by males only and banning them from entering means those operations can't go through."

A Health Ministry representative accused MPs of not understanding what happens inside labour theatres.

"We have 60 maternity doctors, out of them two are male consultants and those two don't intervene unless something goes wrong in the operation theatres," she said.

"We have Caesarean cases in which internal or external bleeding may occur and we need male consultants from other specialisations.

"On the other hand, anaesthetic specialists are all males and they are needed for the operation to start - and throughout the operation to ensure that the patient is fine without any dosage complications."

MPs also voted in favour of another Al Asala Bloc proposal to increase physical education (PE) classes in schools, despite assurances by the Education Ministry that this was already in the pipeline.

Education Ministry Under-Secretary for Education and Curricula Dr Abdulla Al Mutawa said it was allocating more time for PE, which currently accounts for two classes a week.

"We are also sending our PE teachers for more training courses and have sent a number abroad for PhD degrees in PE," he said.

Parliament chairman Khalifa Al Dhahrani said many of Bahrain's students are obese because of soft drinks and food sold in school canteens, and not because of the lack of PE.

"That needs immediate attention more than having PE classes, because with healthy food students stay healthy," he said. – TradeArabia News Service