Discriminatory measure: Kuwait restricts treatment hours for expats

KUWAIT CITY:

Kuwait said on Tuesday that barring foreigners from attending public hospitals in the mornings was aimed at resolving the problem of “overcrowding” at such health facilities.

Since Sunday the health ministry in the Gulf state began implementing the measure, described by activists as racist, at the public hospital in Jahra, west of Kuwait City, on experimental basis for six months.

If successful, it will be expanded to other public hospitals as per a decision issued last month by Health Minister Mohammad al Haifi, who is a well-known surgeon.

As per the measure, foreign residents will be able to receive treatment at the outpatient clinics of public hospitals in the evenings only.

The measure “is intended to ease overcrowding at clinics” where the number of patients has been increasing rapidly, the interior ministry said in a statement.

It cited the health minister as stressing that the ministry will continue to provide “the best health care for citizens and expatriates.”

Kuwait is home to 2.6 million foreigners, mostly from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh,  Egypt and Syria, and 1.2 million Kuwaitis.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 5^th, 2013.