Bahrain has introduced a new online complaints and suggestion system, which will allow citizens and residents to share feedback on the quality of government service as well as submit complaints.

Launched by HRH Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Premier, it will also help to improve government performance and maintain transparency, reported the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication.

A system called Tawasul, accessible through bahrain.bh, has already been introduced as a pilot project with the Health Ministry.

Nine other government bodies have been linked to the system. These include the ministries of Housing, Social Development, Works, Municipalities and Urban Planning Affairs as well as the Central Informatics Organisation, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, and the National Health Regulatory Authority.

The Crown Prince, who was briefed about the implementation of the system yesterday, called on all government entities to make use of it to improve interaction with the public.

He noted that the new system follows directives of HRH Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa to develop a unified electronic system that allows the public to share complaints and suggestion about all government departments. It has been introduced by the e-Government Authority in co-ordination with the Bahrain Centre for Excellence and other government departments.

The Crown Prince called for complaints and suggestions submitted via the system to be addressed swiftly and used to generate mechanisms and policies to prevent similar problems from recurring.

Tawasul has been designed as an "intelligent system" that monitors the progress made on each complaint. It also has a response system that disseminates text messages and e-mails to users allowing them to track their complaint. – TradeArabia News Service