Indian origin Internal Medicine Doctor in Bahrain terminated from hospital over anti-Palestine posts, arrested

New Delhi: Amid the ongoing armed conflict between Palestinian militant groups led by Hamas and Israel, a 50-year-old Indian-origin doctor has recently been found to have breached civil peace and social stability due to an alleged anti-Palestine post on a social media platform.

The doctor was a specialist in internal medicine at the Royal Bahrain Hospital with clinical expertise in Diabetes Mellitus type 1 and type 2, Thyroid disorders, hypertension. The doctor's decision to vocally oppose Hamas and align himself with Israel has generated significant controversy. His social media post has faced severe backlash from netizens for offending a section of religious society.

Taking note of his controversial statements on social media, the Royal Bahrain Hospital terminated him for allegedly violating social etiquette, the institution's code of conduct and offending society.

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Terming his action as an insult to religion and negatively affecting the security and safety of society, the Anti-Cyber Crimes Department arrested the doctor on October 19. An investigation into the case is underway.

The incident came to light when his posts started gaining significant attention on the microblogging platform. Subsequently, another user who noticed the doctor's post alerted the Bahraini officials along with the hospital authorities by posting screenshots of the doctor's statement on social media. 

The user who highlighted the situation in front of the authorities tweeted "This is a Hindu doctor working in Bahrain🇧🇭. He believes that Islam is a barbaric religion, Muslims are attacking Israel and Palestinians must be destroyed."

In a series of posts on X, formerly Twitter, the doctor said "IsraelFightsBack will do a scorched earth attack, plenty will be killed, displaced, Hamas will be destroyed (rightly so), then what? If I may ask? #Israel #Gaza #IsraelPalestineConflict. Occupy under military force?"

"Hamas started it Israel will end it. Sad to see this level of loss of life and suffering though, on both sides," he said in another post. His X account has received significant criticism from the online community due to the presence of multiple posts that express anti-Palestinian sentiments.

In response to this, the hospital administration released an official statement via a social media platform. "It has come to our attention that the doctor who is working as a Specialist in Internal Medicine has posted tweets on social media that are offensive to our society. 

We would like to confirm that his tweets and ideology are personal and do not reflect the opinion and values of the hospital. This is a violation of our code of conduct and we have taken the necessary legal actions and his service has been terminated with immediate effect," said the official statement. Apart from terminating the doctor, the Hospital also removed his profile from its website.

Addressing the situation, the doctor took to 'X' and made a public apology for posting his statements and provided an explanation for the controversial matter. 

"I profoundly regret my words & actions. I would like to apologize for the statement I posted on this platform. The choice of words was unsuccessful and I did not take into account the sensitivity of the situation in the context of the current event. As a doctor all lives matter. I respect this country, its people and its religion as deeply as I have been here for 10 years. I regret and sincerely apologize" He said in a post on 'X'.

An ongoing armed conflict between Palestinian militant groups led by Hamas and Israel began on 7 October 2023, with a coordinated surprise offensive on Israel. The attack began in the morning with a barrage of at least 3,000 rockets launched from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip against Israel.

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