Sack of onion rose from KD 2.5 to KD 10 - Union laments poor storing conditions at borders

KUWAIT: Vegetables lined up for sale at the Furda Market in Sulaibiya in this file photo.

KUWAIT: Food merchants are asking state officials to intervene in order to speed up inspections of fruit and vegetable imports which has resulted in delays in entering supplies to the market, thus causing increased prices for some items. Several stores recorded sharp increase in prices of certain items, most notably onions whose prices almost tripled in recent days due to shortage in supply.

Facing public outcry and accusations of raising prices unjustifiably, merchants at the Furda Market in Sulaibiya, Kuwait's biggest fruits and vegetables market, blamed the Health Ministry for introducing new measures at its laboratories to examine the quality of imported food, explaining that results of these new tests are made 'too late' which delays the delivery of needed supplies to the market in time.

Chairman of the Union of Kuwaiti Traders and Food Manufacturers Abdullah Al-Buaijan urged Health Minister Dr Jamal Al-Harbi to interfere and solve the problem, noting that the union had received complaints from various importers about the delay in examining samples from over 200 containers carrying 600 tons of fruits and vegetables.

Buaijan added that the samples examination lab capacity was limited and that this led to accumulating hundreds of shipments waiting to be examined; for over 20 days in some cases. He warned that samples are usually collected at border exists, put in plastic bags and then withheld at the exits for over three days before being taken to labs. He explained that this damages the samples because of the vapor accumulating inside the bags and are not even refrigerated. Such prolonged measures caused a lot of damage to onion shipments that had been withheld for over two months and will have to be destroyed. The shortage in opinion supplies resulted in the increase of its price from KD 2.5 for a sack of onion to KD 10.

Health proposals

Member of the health committee at the parliament MP Khalid Al-Otaibi said the committee will finalize proposals that are of interest to citizens, and will send them to the National Assembly to vote on them. He said that the proposals mainly address building hospitals and health centers, as well as adding more groups under the retirees' health insurance program. "We asked for new groups to be added to the Afia law, including retirees' wives, widows who receive salaries from the social security, children of retirees under 18, homemakers of various ages and those with special needs," Otaibi said. He added that despite the health ministry's reservations on adding these groups due to the financial cost, "we insist on continuing to apply pressure to add the groups that deserve to be under the umbrella of the law."

As for medical errors, Otaibi said "we have all suffered from medical errors that have become a phenomenon lately in scary numbers." "We legislators must look into it and deal with it within a comprehensive law, hold those who make mistakes accountable and compensate those affected," he said. "We discussed a proposed law on practicing medicine, which contains a full chapter of patients' rights," he added.

Costs

Official reports revealed that the commerce and industry ministry's expenses totaled KD 159.2 million in 2016/2017. There was a drop in expenses compared to the previous two years (2014/2015 and 2015/2016) by 29.4 percent and 36.7 percent respectively. The reports showed an increase in collected revenues in 2016/2017 compared to the previous two years by 51.4 percent and 46 percent. There was a drop in collected revenues for the year 2016/2017 by 1.2 percent, more than what was estimated, with a total of KD 156,000.

Co-ops honored

The Kuwait Society for Small Projects honored five co-op societies for taking practical steps in response to the social affairs ministry's decision to provide investment areas for small business owners. This decision was made in 2015 as part of efforts exerted by the ministry to open new horizons for small business owners by providing areas supervised by the ministry where they can market their products and services. Social Affairs Minister and State Minister for Economic Affairs Hind Al-Sabeeh hoped that more co-op societies would understand the necessity of supporting owners of small businesses, adding that licenses for kiosks in co-ops will be issued soon.

By Meshaal Al-Enezi and A Saleh