Health Minister Dr Jamal Al-Harbi

KUWAIT: Health Minister Dr Jamal Al-Harabi said yesterday that he will meet with Ministry of Health (MoH) undersecretaries after Eid holidays to discuss the increase in health insurance fees for expatriates. Al-Harbi added that the meeting will discuss gradual fee increases - starting with imposing health insurance fees on visitors (those arriving on visit visas) - and then on expatriates. Al-Harbi stressed that the raise is inevitable.

The health insurance fee increase was scheduled to take effect last February as MoH undersecretaries Council had approved the recommendations. The study recommends that the new prices would be 20 percent less than those provided by private hospitals. Health sources said that the medical services fees in Kuwait had remained the same for too long while the cost of medicine and equipments have increased thus putting a huge burden on the state's budget.