October 22, 2023: The Royal Bahrain Hospital have dismissed Dr. Sunil Rao, an Indian-origin specialist in internal medicine, from service after he posted inflammatory remarks on social media regarding the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. Dr Rao had tweeted, “#IsraelFights Back will do a scorched earth attack, plenty will be killed, displaced, Hamas will be destroyed (rightly so), then what? If may ask? #Israel #Gaza #Israel PalestineConflict, Occupy under military force?” His contentious remarks showed solidarity with Israel which is currently engaged in a bitter war on the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip.
The Bahraini Hospital took cognizance of his tweet after being alerted by a concerned user. The hospital issued an official statement on X (formerly Twitter) saying, “It has come to our attention that Dr. Sunil Rao who is working as a Specialist in Internal Medicine has posted tweets on social media platforms 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 services have been terminated with immediate effect.”
After the controversy escalated, Dr. Rao issued an apology, recognized, and admitted that his tweet was insensitive or offensive. He tweeted again “I would like to apologize for the statement I posted on this platform. It was insensitive given the current events. As a doctor, I value all lives. I deeply respect this country, its people, and its religion, as I have been here for the past 10 years.”
The hospital’s official website has since removed Dr. Rao’s profile. Dr Rao has approximately 20 years of experience in the medical field and was an alumnus of Andhra Medical College in Visakhapatnam and Kasturba Medical College in Mangaluru, Karnataka.
