New medical charges for expatriates in Kuwait

The increased fees for medical services offered to expatriates will be implemented from Sunday in all public hospitals and polyclinics around Kuwait. The Health Ministry reportedly sent lists containing the new fees to local medical facilities, which include charging KD 5 for visiting the emergency department of general hospital, KD 10 for going to outpatients clinics, KD 10 per day for inpatients, KD 30 for staying at the intensive care unit (ICU), KD 50 for the private room and KD 200 as deposit. As for maternity, KD 10 will be collected per visit, in addition to KD 50 paid for normal delivery.

Meanwhile MP Khalid Al-Otaibi has called for postponing the implementation of new fee structure to early next year. According to MP, eventhough an increase in fees for health services to the expatriates is necessery, we must take into account the humanitarian dimension and the average income of a large section of residents. Some of the medical examination fees cannot be sustained by a fairly large number of people in the country, he said.

Kuwait Health Min. launches hotline to reach out to people

Seeking to better communicate with people frequenting its medical centers and hospitals, the Kuwait Ministry of Health launched Friday a hotline.

"The Ministry seeks to reach out to people through the new service to listen to their evaluation of the services provided by its institutions and provide them with all required information about Kuwait medical centers," Health Ministry Undersecretary Khaled Al-Sahlawi said in a press statement Friday.

The Hotline, 151, will help people communicate with the Ministry to get information about health centers' services and addresses, he said.

He added that the hotline also enables citizens and residents to convey their complainants and suggestions to the Ministry officials.