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By Badrya Darwish

guys! It's been a long time since I've written, for several reasons that do not concern the public. But today I was compelled to break my silence and write about something I felt I should comment on. As all of you know, we are all depressed and suppressed and highly stressed. It's been a year and a half, guys, where the whole world is not living in a normal way. The stress of the pandemic, the stress of politics in the country and the region, the stress of not traveling - and I'm a person who travels a lot - all of this has driven us crazy. And by the nature of the job, journalists criticize.

But today I have nothing but praise. My journalistic instinct was searching for a problem or snag here or there in the halls of Mishref. But I found none. I went to Mishref to get the vaccination yesterday and honestly speaking, I was for the first time impressed by a project accomplished in Kuwait. Highly organized. Efficient. Well-equipped.

The best part of it was that I felt like I was in one of the most advanced countries. There was no discrimination in the queue. Whether you were Filipino, Kuwaiti, Egyptian, Indian, etc, etc, everyone was treated in the same manner. We queued. The police were highly efficient in guiding people where to go and how to queue, as there are many halls. They were polite and well-trained. Even the receptionists inside were polite, well-trained and efficient in their work.

I was also impressed by the speed of the process. From start to finish it took me 10 minutes - from queueing to the jab. And then the nurse will ask you, out of an abundance of caution, to wait another 10 to 15 minutes in case of a bad reaction. In Arabic, we have a proverb that says those who do not thank people, do not thank God. So I wanted to say thank you all.

I'm sure this effort has taken an incredible amount of work and planning and cooperation from all sides, be it the ministry of health, ministry of interior and all the other ministries and departments involved. Everyone participated and especially the nurses and doctors on the frontline need all our applause. They are not only working full-out, but also putting their lives on the line. Everyone needs a leader, and Dr Basel has proven himself.

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