KUWAIT: The Public Services Company (PSC) yesterday decided to suspend the Ministry of Health's inquiry hotline (151) because the ministry did not renew the contract that expired in Oct 2016. According to the expired contract, PSC provides the service in return for an annual fee. However, PSC had continued providing the service until yesterday even after the contract expired, claiming Minister Jamal Al-Harbi is aware of the issue and did not react. Notably, the 151 hotline received citizens' complaints and remarks on the services provided by the health ministry. It annually received a minimum of 20,000 calls and referred them to the ministry's citizen service department.

Unemployment

The total number of citizens registered with the Manpower and Government Restructuring Program (MGRP) who have been awaiting employment for over six months is 9,284 including 58 PhD holders, 3,502 bachelor degree holders and 1,675 two-year diploma holders.

Allowances

The Ministry of Education asked the Finance Ministry to provide it with KD 150 million to cover shortages in the allowances of students dispatched for study abroad. Notably, the total budget allocated for scholarships is KD 260 million and the education ministry had been previously accused of squandering it on students studying specialties not included in the scholarship program.

Licenses

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry is currently considering unifying the procedures of issuing company licenses and reducing issuance fees by 50 percent.

Heavy oil

Kuwait Oil Company's (KOC) Deputy CEO for Northern Kuwait Badria Abdulrahman Ali stressed that finding methods to produce heavy oil and efficiently refine it is a basic requirement to make the best use of the rich reserves in the Gulf region. Ali added that Kuwait plans to start producing heavy oil by the end of 2018 with an expected daily production of 10,000-15,000 barrels from the South Ritka field. She also predicted that production would increase to 60,000 barrels six months later.

By A Saleh