KUWAIT: The parliamentary priorities committee met with Ministry of Health (MoH) officials to follow up the ministry's agenda and match it to the general plan. In this regard, rapporteur MP Ahmed Lari said MoH had accomplished a reasonable percentage of its plans and that it was due to receive control of Jaber Hospital by September, while the Amiri Hospital expansion would be concluded by 2017, adding 446 beds to its current bed capacity of 418 beds. Lari added that Al-Razi Hospital is already open with 240 extra beds. "The Jahra Hospital project is being supervised by the Amiri Diwan and the expansion is scheduled to add 1,171 extra beds to the current 750 beds," he added, noting that 140 extra beds would be added for children at Mubarak Hospital.

Speaking about legislations, Lari said MoH had referred the psychiatric health bill to the parliament with other bills such as patients' rights, amendments to the smoking ban law and private medical facilities law, which were all part of the development plan, and the Cabinet needs to refer them to the Assembly as soon as possible. Moreover, Lari said that MoH will build smaller hospitals in Sabah Al-Ahmed residential area and Mutlaa in addition to opening specialized clinics in various medical zones and provide radiology services on a 24/7 basis to reduce pressure on hospitals. "The health minister has invited the public sector to run public hospitals but many refrained in view of subjecting such management to auditing, and thus many international companies were discouraged to run Kuwaiti hospitals," he added.

Final statement

The parliamentary budgets and final statement committee yesterday met Education Minister Badr Al-Essa to discuss MoE's final statement for the fiscal year 2014-2015 and the Audit Bureau's remarks on it. Committee chairman MP Adnan Abdulsamad said that the committee recommended more coordination with auditing bodies and activating internal auditing measures with the ministry, especially in terms of payroll, as it had been detected that salaries were still being paid for employees who died several years ago. The committee also recommended imposing stricter and suitable penalties on violators and having more control over tendering procedures.

Govt spending

Informed sources at the finance ministry stressed that government spending in the last three months of the 2015-2016 fiscal year, which is ending in March, might reach KD 11.8 billion. The sources explained that till the end of December, the government had spent around KD 7.7 billion of its KD 19.1 billion budget, which is around 40 percent. "The reason for slow spending during the first three quarters of the fiscal year was that government bodies do not calculate their expenditures immediately, which delays having accurate statistics in this regard," explained the sources, noting that dues of over KD 1 billion to the Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW) and social security for the current year were not yet paid.

Unified tax

GCC states have agreed to impose a unified tax of 50 percent on carbonated drinks and 100 percent on energy drinks. The Saudi Okaz newspaper quoted what it described as 'informed sources' saying that an agreement on the unified GCC tax would be signed by June 2016, pending approval by the beginning of 2017. Notably, Kuwait's deputy PM and Finance Minister Anas Al-Saleh had stated in November that GCC states had agreed on imposing 100 percent taxes on tobacco.

Body found

The body of a 33-year-old Indian man was found floating near Watiya Slipway opposite the flag yard, said security sources, noting that it was recovered and referred to forensics.

By A Saleh