MoH owes KD 20 million to doctors

‘Lack of budget’

KUWAIT CITY, June 20: Ministry of Health owes a total of KD 20 million to doctors for their work in evening clinics for the past nine months, reports Aljarida daily quoting informed sources.

They said the concerned doctors had requested several times for settlement of the outstanding remunerations, and the hospital administrations had in turn submitted letters to health zones, which were then forwarded to the ministry. However, “nothing has been done so far in this regard” according to a number of doctors.

The sources stressed that Ministry of Health responded to these claims by claiming lack of budget for evening clinics and other requirements.

They explained that Ministry of Health had determined the number of working hours in the evening shift as four hours for five days a week. It also set the remunerations for additional work for doctors, medical staff, and technical and administrative staff who work during the evenings.

The additional wages per hour for those who work after the official hours are as follows: - KD 10 for specialist doctors of high grade, and KD 8 for the lowest, KD 5 for therapists, KD 4 for pharmacists, nursing staff, and health technicians and KD 3 for administrators.

For the surgical team, the wages of a surgeon who performs major operations after the official working hours is KD 20 per hour.

The Appeals Circuit of the Misdemeanor Court presided over by Judge Mohammed Mutlaq Al-Mutairi sentenced Fouad Sayed Abdulrahman Al-Rifai to one-month imprisonment along with a suspended three-year jail sentence and payment of KD 5,000 for suspending the verdict execution. Al-Rifai was accused of denigrating and disrespecting other people’s faith and harming national unity.

Lawyer Eman Al-Bloushi lodged a complaint with the Public Prosecution after Al-Rifai posted remarks on his Twitter account which were deemed offensive to the Shiite sect. She stressed that the posts were aimed to provoke sectarian sedition, disrespect the Shiite doctrine and harm national unity.

Lawyer Al-Bloushi affirmed that she was offended by the posts of Al-Rifai who had “retweeted” them several times.

She said, “People of Kuwait are one. There is no difference between us”.

Lawyer Al-Bloushi insisted that his post contravene the national unity which His Highness the Amir is keen on observing through the National Unity Law No. 19/2012, adding that the suspect also violated law No. 63/2015 on combating cybercrimes.