By A Saleh

KUWAIT: The Health Ministry opened an investigation into suspected administrative violations in the nursing services sector in Al-Sabah Health District, over suspected unlawful payments made for nursing staff members. This comes after it was discovered that a nurse who worked in a hospital in Al-Sabah medical specialized zone had left Kuwait on a recent flight after embezzling over KD 15,000 in unlawful payments throughout her time working for the ministry.

Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health Dr Mustafa Reda issued an administrative order to form an investigation committee headed by Assistant Undersecretary for Legal Affairs in order to probe "administrative wrongdoings" in the nursing services sector in Al-Sabah Health District. He also ordered the committee to come up with a mechanism to improve nursing services in Al-Sabah specialized medical centers and hospitals in order to avoid similar violations form happening in the future.

In other news, the technical department in the Ministry of Health addressed all hospitals to arrange for the return of expatriate doctors stuck abroad. It instructed hospital administrators to provide lists of the names of doctors from all departments stuck abroad. Notably, 658 nurses, radiologists and lab technicians who were stuck in India had returned to Kuwait this month, while nurses are set to return to Kuwait from the Philippines and Egypt soon.