MANAMA: The Bahraini Ministry of Health will inspect all hair and beauty salons across the country after a number of their employees were found not to have undergone compulsory medical checkups for contagious diseases.
“One of the common problems we face is workers not showing up for medical checkups on time. This is a severe violation endangering the lives of people," said Mariam Janahi, supervisor of the Health Inspection Unit at the Ministry of Health.
Janahi said her team came across several salon owners who failed to conduct compulsory medical checkups for beauticians and barbers, some of who were found to be carrying contagious diseases.
“Customers are unaware that a barber or beautician is suffering from a disease,” she said, adding, “If we find, during our inspections, that a worker is not following the right procedures in sterilizing equipment then we would educate them.” The Health Inspection Unit has held training workshops in ladies’ salons in Arabic and now plans to hold similar workshops in English. Janahi said there was a huge challenge in crossing the language barrier in the case of men’s salons.
“Most of these workers are from India, Sri Lanka or Bangladesh, and are not educated. We're unable to conduct workshops in English or Arabic, as that would not serve the purpose,” she said.
Janahi said the number of beauty salons was on the increase, making the job of inspectors more challenging. “Our job involves inspecting and educating. We regularly visit salons and look into public complaints about salons that are unhygienic,” she added.
According to the latest statistics, the Bahraini Ministry of Health closed 47 shops last year and verbally warned thousands of salon owners for violating safety rules.
