KUWAIT: The Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs wrote to the interior ministry to grant expatriate muezzins driving licenses and exempt them from the required conditions to obtain a license, Undersecretary Fareed Emadi said. This request came based on the fact that the number of muezzins employed by the ministry is considered low (around 1,000), Emadi said, adding that the exemption helps make it easy for them to move around, especially those who work in remote areas.

Jurisdiction

A memo was sent to the legal affairs sector at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor to study the possibility of granting judicial jurisdiction to some charity, foundation, private society and nursery inspectors, Undersecretary for Social Development Sector Affairs Hassan Kazim said.

Law 24/1962 regarding clubs and NGOs and law 22/2014 with regards to nurseries authorizes the social affairs ministry to register and supervise NGOs and nurseries, Kazim explained. He said the ministry is seeking to grant employees of these departments judicial jurisdiction so that they can control it and deal with violations mentioned in the law.

Data exchange system

The health ministry renewed its contract to supply and install a patient data exchange system between paramedics and casualty doctors at hospitals. The estimated cost of the system is KD 2.9 million, according to health ministry sources. They said communication between paramedics and doctors takes place when a critical case being transferred requires medical instructions before reaching the hospital, using the digital communications TETRA systems. It said the major challenges emergency teams face is the high rate of injuries resulting from traffic accidents and heart diseases. The sources said the ministry received 79 new ambulances with advanced specifications that will be commissioned during this month.

Throat cancer

Farwaniya Hospital said 22 new people contract throat and vocal cord cancer in Kuwait, ie 2.9 per 100,000 people, according to statistics by the Kuwait Center for Fighting Cancer that are documented by WHO. ENT consultant Dr Humoud Al-Arrouj was speaking during the announcement about an international conference on the latest medial development with regards to the throat and vocal cords to be held Feb 15-19.

Arrouj, who chairs the conference, said such conferences will have a clear effect on developing the healthcare system, contribute to the development of healthcare and train and add to Kuwaiti doctors' experience through following up the latest in this field. He said the scientific committee completed inspection of the papers that are participating in the conference. He 20 out of the 40 research papers that were selected are on means of diagnosing and treating throat and vocal cord diseases.

By A Saleh