Health Minister Sadiq bin Abdul-Kareem Al-Shehabi received the Deputy Minister of Health of the Czech Republic Peter Salac and explored with him bilateral friendship and cooperation relations. The Czech Deputy Health Minister led a delegation comprising representatives from several medical equipment and services companies on an official visit to the Kingdom of Bahrain in the period January 28-30. The two sides discussed aspects of health cooperation and explored means of developing bilateral cooperation relations between the two friendly countries and the exchanging of expertise particularly in health services. Minister Al-Shehabi praised the deep-rooted bilateral Bahrain-Czech relations in various fields especially cooperation in health services. The Deputy Minister of Health of the Czech Republic briefed the Minister on the health system of his country and health services provided to citizens. Talks focused on Bahraini patients’ possible benefiting from these services. The Czech Minister of Health thanked Minister Al-Shehabi for the good reception and hospitality and praised his interest in boosting bilateral relations. Minister Al-Shehabi pointed out the need for exchanging of visits and health expertise with the Czech Republic and laying down the foundations of cooperation looking forward to the signing of memoranda of understanding (MoUs) and agreements between the two countries, and wished the Czech Health Minister and his accompanying delegation a nice stay in Bahrain aspiring to boosting these relations. The Czech Deputy Health Minister and his accompanying delegation visited the Salmaniya Medical Complex (SMC) and were briefed on health services provided by the SMC. This visit by the Czech delegation comes as a result of a meeting between Deputy Premier Shaikh Khalid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa and the Czech Health Minister Meloche Hager in February 2013. Assistant Undersecretary for Hospitals Affairs Dr. Amin Al-Saati, Assistant Undersecretary for Primary and Public Healthcare Dr. Mariam Al-Jalahma, Assistant Undersecretary for Training and Planning Dr. Hala Al-Mehza’ and the Acting Director of PR and International Relations Directorate Anissa Al-Huwaihi were also present in the meeting.