Health Minister Dr Ali Al-Obaidi

KUWAIT: Head of the parliament's health, social affairs and labor committee MP Talal Al-Jallal said that he has invited Health Minister Dr Ali Al-Obaidi to attend the committee's meeting today and discuss the new charter of treatment aboard.

Separately, Chairman of the parliament's budgets panel MP Adnan Abdulsamad said that the committee discussed the social security authority's budget for 2016-2017 and noticed that the Audit Bureau had been very cooperative with the authority but recommended improving internal auditing to limit financial and administrative mistakes.

The committee also stressed that the State Audit Bureau noticed that the social security had exceeded its 2014-2015 budget by KD 7 million. The committee also pointed that it had previously warned that the suggested budget would lead to a KD 8.9 billion actuarial deficit in view of falling oil prices.

The committee also stressed the need to fill about 300 vacant positions and change the regulations of accepting recruits, especially in terms of not appointing non-Kuwaitis in leading positions.

Weapons embezzlement

The court of appeal annulled the criminal court's verdict sentencing a special forces agent to seven years with labor, dismissal and a KD 1,500 fine for embezzling weapons and ammunition worth KD 780,000 without a license or prior permission, and only sentenced him to one year in jail. The defendant's lawyer Mohammed Al-Mutairi argued that the previous verdict was void because the court passing it was not the same that heard the case from the beginning. He also argued that his client's confessions were made under threat and that he was framed.

Ramadan donations

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (MSAL) has started receiving the names of charities representatives who would be authorized to collect donations during Ramadan, so that the Ministry of Interior could consulted about them security-wise. The ministry added that no written receipts would be given on collecting donations this year and that they would be substituted by electronic ones directly linked with MSAL in order to have more control over the process.

By A Saleh