KUWAIT: The parliament's health committee is currently preparing a bill to impose health insurance on expatriates coming to Kuwait on visit visas. The committee argued that this bill is becoming a must now because according to them, some expatriates visit Kuwait only to go to hospitals, undergo complete medical checkups and even special surgeries. This prolongs the time Kuwaitis have to wait to receive such medical services and puts more pressure on public hospitals, they stated.

Officials reprimanded

The Cabinet is due to hold a special meeting by the beginning of October to discuss a list of senior officials who will be dismissed and referred to retirement, why they should be dismissed, how much they have achieved in the projects under their supervision and the obstacles that caused them to lag behind schedule. In this regard, well-informed sources said that a special committee from the supreme planning council headed by the Minister of Social Affairs and Labor and Minster of State for Planning and Development Hind Al-Subaih had reviewed the development plan projects to pinpoint those falling behind schedule and the officials responsible for them. The sources added that senior officials who failed to achieve at least 80 percent of the projects within their jurisdiction will not have their tenures extended.

Expat advisers

Well informed parliamentary sources said that some MPs are earnestly working on substituting expatriate advisors at the parliament by Kuwaitis or GCC nationals because expats have little knowledge about the nature of the Kuwaiti society and because many misunderstandings happened between them and lawmakers.

By A Saleh