Proper measures taken to treat prisoner with viral meningitis

Health Minister Dr Bassel Al-Sabah

KUWAIT: Health Minister Sheikh Dr Bassel Al-Sabah issued a ministerial decision restricting organ transplant surgeries conducted by visiting foreign specialized doctors to Kuwaitis only. In a different concern, the minister said work is currently in progress to increase the number of main medical warehouses and distributing them over various areas around Kuwait to be used during any possible contingencies that may result due to regional circumstances.

In other news, Dr Bassel said that the ministry, in collaboration with the Central Prison authorities, activated the necessary preventive measures after prisoner tested positive for viral meningitis. "The patient, who was rushed from the prison to Al-Farwaniya Hospital upon showing symptoms of the disease, is in a stable condition after taking the proper medication," the minister said on Friday.

Sheikh Dr Bassel said that he is following in person the health condition of the patient, noting that the public health department and the health unit of the prison shouldered their respective responsibilities properly upon detecting the case. "As a precaution, tests were conducted on all prison inmates who were in contact with the patient but their results came negative," he revealed, adding that he ordered working out a detailed report on the level of healthcare for all prisoners. The minister reaffirmed the commitment of the government to ensuring proper healthcare for everybody without any exceptions.

Health insurance

The parliamentary health affairs committee will meet today to discuss proposals on amending law number 114/2014 pertaining health insurance for retired citizens. The committee invited both Finance Minister Nayef Al-Hajraf and Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Hind Al-Sabeeh to attend the meeting.

Strategic payroll

The parliamentary financial affairs committee is due to meet today to resume discussing decree law number 15/1979 pertaining civil services (aka the strategic payroll alternative). Informed sources said the government had urged the parliament to complete discussing its visions on the proposed amendments, adding that the government is eyeing a partial reform of the payroll system divided into nine main professional categories and involving a new mechanism for assessment, promotions and rewards, plus encouraging citizens to join less attractive jobs.

Meanwhile, MP Safa Al-Hashem renewed her call on the government to expose what she described as 'poisonous assets' in investments of Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), warning that not revealing them would lead to losses worth billions. Hashem added that through KIA, the finance ministry stated that it is about to disclose a list of some valuable assets that she had earlier urged Finance Minister Nayef Al-Hajraf and KIA CEO Farouq Bastaki to disclose. She added that those assets are still 'bleeding losses'.

Power plants

Preventive maintenance of various units has improved the performance of power plants and reduced malfunctions to a total of 280 in 2017, compared to 317 in 2016, acting statistics manager at the Ministry of Electricity and Water Iqbal Al-Tayyar said.

Oil prices

Oil prices have dropped below to the lowest point this year of $58.9, affected by international stock exchange plunges and a drop in demand, said analysts. Analysts also said Kuwaiti oil prices dropped by $8 per barrel and that this might lead to a drop in oil revenues during the last quarter of 2017-2018, which might lead to increasing the deficit to KD 6 billion compared to current predictions of KD 5.2 billion.

Meanwhile, oil sources at KOC said that the company has managed to achieve daily production of 801,000 barrels in the northern operations zone. The sources added that the actual daily production in this area was 732,000 barrels a day and that the highest was 772,000 bpd, until the number of drilling rigs was increased, with the result of increasing productivity to 801,000 bpd.

Low-cost homes

The Public Authority for Housing Welfare (PAHW) expects offering the first package of the low-cost housing project's infrastructure (with a total cost of KD 600 million) for public bidding by the end of March, said MEED, noting that the average area per unit would be 200 sq m, which is smaller than land plots in most residential areas currently being planned. MEED also expected the project to include 9,600 units. In addition, MEED noted that the housing authority currently has 100,000 pending housing applications with average waiting periods of 7-18 years. It noted that the new housing projects would reduce overcrowding in Kuwait City and help control soaring real estate prices. "Real estate prices have dropped by 30 percent ever since the government started executing the new housing projects," said informed sources.

By A Saleh