KUWAIT: A crisis is brewing in the Philippines over medical tests for Filipino workers coming to Kuwait. A new system, implemented on Aug 8, now limits the 80,000+ Filipino applicants seeking jobs in Kuwait to only seven medical clinics.

The clinics are run by a private firm, Winston Q8 Certification Solutions Inc, that is allegedly working in concert with the Kuwait Embassy in the Philippines.

According to its website www.winstonkw.com, the firm also “represents the Ministry of Health in Kuwait”. The plan has stirred controversy in Manila and led to calls for a government investigation into the matter.

Critics allege the new system overrides Philippines’ sovereignty with regards to Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) matters and unfairly hikes up test fees for Filipinos planning to work in Kuwait. Medical tests and certifications will now cost KD 55, triple the current regulated fees.

The new system is only applicable to Filipinos who are applying for jobs in Kuwait. It is not clear why Kuwait was singled out as applicants to other GCC states can continue using any GCC Accredited Medical Association (GAMCA) or Department of Health (DOH) accredited clinic for the necessary medical tests.

Filipino news site The Rappler noted that the new system could impact deployment of Filipino personnel to Kuwait. This would affect both workers and employers in Kuwait and possibly create a slowdown in availability of Filipino workers here.

The new system breaks the monopoly held by GAMCA clinics in the Philippines that have also been criticized for failure to abide by the 2015 law that gives every Filipino migrant worker “the freedom to choose any DOH-accredited or DOH-operated clinics to conduct their medical examinations”.

There has been controversy over health centers in other labor-exporting countries too. In 2015, the Embassy of Kuwait in New Delhi announced that the Kuwaiti authorities will henceforth accept medical reports only from GAMCA centers in India, replacing the services of Khadamat Integrated Solutions Pvt Ltd The fees for the tests also went up considerably.And in 2104, the Kuwaiti government opened an investigation into the reasons why local authorities selected only two clinics each in Jordan and Egypt where workers can undergo medical tests necessary to issue a Kuwaiti visa.

In Jordan, Kuwait used to have an agreement with 10 clinics around the kingdom, where a medical test could be taken for a fee equivalent to KD 30. But that was changed, with the number of certified clinics narrowed to only two, each of which charges 600 Jordanian dinars (KD 230) per transaction.

Sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity added that the investigation included Egypt, “where the same thing happened three years ago and no action has been taken since then”. (Kuwait Times report)