KUWAIT: The National Assembly yesterday called on the government to freeze new rules for treatment of Kuwaiti patients overseas until the Assembly's health committee has reviewed the issue. The call came in non-binding recommendations MPs voted on after a three-hour debate during which MPs strongly criticized the decision to cut financial allocations for Kuwaiti patients.

The Assembly asked its health committee to study the issue and report back before its next session on March 14. MPs also recommended that the government build specialized medical centers and hire well-known international doctors to work in the country. MPs were angered by a government decision to cut the numbers of Kuwaiti patients who will be sent for treatment abroad and slashing financial allocations to them to KD 75 daily in US and Europe and KD 50 daily elsewhere. The new rules also allow one companion with each patient, but without any expenses apart from air tickets.

State Minister for Cabinet Affairs Sheikh Mohammad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah said the new rules take effect from April 1 and the government has no intention to freeze them. Public Works Minister Ali Al-Omair said the government will study the recommendations and will implement whatever it can. Head of the budgets committee MP Adnan Abdulsamad said that the budget for medical treatment abroad rose from KD 175 million in 2011 to as much as KD 441 million in the current fiscal year.

Head of the financial and economic affairs committee MP Faisal Al-Shaye said the number of citizens sent for treatment abroad rose from several hundred patients a few years ago to as many as 11,000 last year. Several MPs alleged the process involves rife corruption as many of those sent for treatment are not patients but for what they called "tourism" at the expense of public funds.

The government said it took the decision as part of efforts to rationalize expenditures to finance the budget deficit resulting from the sharp drop in oil prices. But lawmakers criticized the government plans for targeting the poor and low income sections while leaving alone the wealthy. MP Askar Al-Enezi said Kuwait remains a wealthy country and under the constitution, the government must provide appropriate healthcare services for citizens. He appealed to the prime minister to reconsider the government's decisions on medical treatment overseas.

MP Mohammad Tana wondered if the government "is fed up with Kuwaitis and wants to see them dead". The new medical care rules are unacceptable as ministers and merchants go to London and spend millions in public funds while the government is targeting patients, he claimed. MP Jamal Al-Omar blamed the government for the rising number of Kuwaiti patients going abroad because of the delay in its plans to construct hospitals and medical centers. MP Hamdan Al-Azemi threatened to grill the prime minister over the issue.

MPs also debated the plight of over 100,000 stateless people, locally known as bedoons, and called for resolving their decades-old problem by granting Kuwaiti citizenship to all those who deserve it. But the Assembly adjourned the session for two weeks before it could vote on recommendations by the lawmakers because of a lack of quorum.

MPs highlighted the humanitarian nature of the crisis of bedoons, who have been living in the country for several decades. MP Youssef Al-Zalzalah said that at least the bedoons should be treated like Kuwaitis like before the Iraqi invasion in 1990. MP Khalil Al-Saleh said that over 34,000 out of 110,000 bedoons are entitled to Kuwaiti citizenship and called for speeding up the process of studying their cases and granting them nationality. Minister Omair said that bedoons who deserve Kuwaiti nationality are being assessed by the Cabinet, which will grant them nationality. He provided no details about the process.

By B Izzak