MoI rejects blame, insists decision made, suspended by MoH

KUWAIT: The health ministry, in coordination with the interior ministry, yesterday suspended a decision to make domestic helpers from 40 countries undergo medical tests every time they renew their residencies. Director General for Residency Affairs Maj Gen Talal Maarafi said the decision to test the helpers and the decision to postpone it under further notice is from the ministry of health, since it is responsible for conducting medical tests, and the interior ministry has nothing to do with it.

A senior health ministry official yesterday said the ministry stopped the medical examinations until new health centers open soon. The move will give an opportunity to the ministry to complete installation of state-of-the-art equipment and be logistically ready to receive large numbers of medical examinees, Assistant Undersecretary for Public Health Dr Majda Al- Qattan said in a statement. Notably, a state of chaos had prevailed over the past few days at the domestic helpers’ medical examination department, where hundreds gathered to undergo medical tests to renew their residency visas. Maarafi said the overcrowding was behind the health ministry’s decision to halt the process.

Meanwhile, the interior ministry’s relations and security media director Brig Adel Al-Hashash said that in view of the suffering caused to citizens due to the overcrowding, the interior minister conferred with the health minister and his undersecretary, asking them to freeze the decision until the health ministry makes proper arrangements to put it into practice. Hashash added that Maarafi was instructed to immediately form a committee to arrange with the health ministry to make a plan with proper mechanisms and arrangements to absorb the huge numbers of domestic helpers. Hashash also underlined that the decision had been made and suspended by the health ministry and urged everyone to keep the interior ministry out of it.

By Hanan Al-Saadoun