Panel rejects proposal to prevent overseas medical treatment

Foreign Affairs discovers 200 forgery cases over five years

KUWAIT CITY, Dec 21: The parliamentary committee on health has rejected a proposal to prevent overseas medical treatment, saying it contradicts the Constitution. The committee also rejected a recommendation to create a central committee for overseas medical treatment and granted the prerogative to health offices to suspend the treatment temporarily, reports Al-Rai daily.

According to the rapporteur of the committee MP Sa’adoun Hammad, the proposal was rejected in a recent meeting to avoid contravening the Constitution, especially in chronic disease cases.

He affirmed that government supported the position of the committee, because it is impossible to prevent Kuwaitis from getting the right medical treatment.

He also explained that rejecting the recommendation to create a central committee for overseas medical treatment fell within the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Health, while another proposal to set up a committee for approving sponsorship of citizens on treatment abroad would have taken away the role of the ministry.

Meanwhile, over the past five years, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has discovered 200 cases of fraud, reports Al-Jarida daily.

The daily some of these frauds were committed by foreign embassies operating in Kuwait while 10 of these cases involved Kuwaitis who had forged the seals of Kuwaiti embassies abroad.

The Foreign Ministry report was submitted to the National Assembly in response to a query by MP Riyadh Al-Adsani.

A copy of the report received by the newspaper shows 49 forgery cases cover driving licenses and 96 are related to the police clearance certificates, in addition to 37 forgeries in educational certificates, in addition to other cases such as forgery of experience certificates, power of attorney and marriage contracts.