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MoH seeks to increase medical fees for expats Govt believes current charges do not reflect quality of services
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By A Saleh
Former MPs name representatives in oppn coalition KUWAIT: The bloc of former opposition MPs yesterday named five representatives to the newly established Opposition Coalition and another representative to another opposition body. Former MP and opposition figure Ahmad Al-Saadoun said after a meeting of the former parliamentarians that former lawmakers Musallam Al-Barrak, Adel Al-Damkhi, Faisal Al-Mislem, Bader Al-Dahoum and Mubarak AlWaalan were selected to represent the bloc in the Opposition Coalition. The coalition was announced last week following several weeks of discussions between various opposition groups and activists. Other seats to the coalition’s political bureau will be filled by representatives of trade and student unions, political groups and individual activists. Saadoun also said the bloc of former MPs also selected ex-MP Waleed Al-Tabtabaei to represent the bloc in the coordination committee of the Protest Movement, another opposition body that decided to stay outside the coalition. During the announcement, Saadoun strongly lashed out at the government for failing to curb the smuggling of heavily-subsidized diesel to neighbouring countries, saying the value of the smuggled fuel is more than $2 million daily. Continued on Page 2
KUWAIT: HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah takes a picture during a lunch banquet held by Capital Governor Sheikh Ali Al-Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah at the Azayez farm in Abdali. — KUNA (See Page 3)
KUWAIT: The Ministry of Health is studying the possibility of reconsidering the fees collected from expatriates for medical services as part of its attempts to increase its revenues and reduce pressure on overcrowded public medical facilities, said sources with knowledge of the case. The study calls for increasing fees collected for services that include medical checkups, surgeries, x-rays and others. “There is a belief within the ministry that the fees are currently inadequate to the quality of services given,” said the sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity. They added that a mechanism prepared for this project is set to be sent to Health Minister Mohammad Al-Haifi “before he refers it to the Cabinet to be enforced”. The sources did not provide a timeline for when the referral might happen, or when the study is going to be finished. In other news, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor is set to study a memo to allow domestic workers to transfer their visas to the private sector (Article 18) as long as the same employer is retained. According to sources with knowledge of the case, the memorandum was recently finalized by the labor department in the ministry, which then sent it to the ministry’s council of undersecretaries to study it in its meeting next week. If approved, the decision will go into effect on April 1, the sources added.