The meeting will be chaired by council services committee chairman Dr Bahiya Al Jishi and parliament services committee chairman Dr Ali Ahmed.

Dr Al Hamer will head a delegation of officials from his ministry and the Education Ministry.

"Councillors and MPs are carrying out their role in ensuring that people's health and safety are protected," said Dr Al Jishi.

"Everyone wants to be aware about what's going in the country in regards to swine flu and what measures are being taken to combat it."

"It is always better to unify efforts to find better solutions and through our meeting, I believe, a joint plan could be drawn.

Dr Al Jishi thanked Dr Al Hamer for his initiative to meet MPs and councillors.

"This shows that he is keen on having everything done in a transparent and clear manner, which reflects his ministry's keenness to ensure people are protected."

Dr Ahmed said that the ministries concerned should always update MPs and councillors on what actions are being taken to combat swine flu.

"The upcoming stage of the spread of the flu is critical, considering that a large number of people will be back from their holidays and students will return to school," he said.

"It is not yet clear how much is the budget to combat the flu or on what it will be spent if there is one. The meeting will help us draw a clear plan for the future."

MP Adel Al Asoomi last week called for an extraordinary parliamentary session to discuss Bahrain's preparations to combat the flu.

He demanded that the health and education ministries sit together with MPs and come up with joint solutions to combat the disease and contain it from spreading.

Three people have already died of swine flu in Bahrain, including Filipina Jane Tamad Diale, 31, Bahraini Mousa Jassim Al Taitoon, 24, and Bangladeshi Mobarak Ahmed Abdur Rashid, 51.

All died in the space of four days, while more than 300 others have also been infected.