Ministry clarifies reports on TB patient’s death

KUWAIT: Assistant Undersecretary for Public Health at the Ministry of Health (MOH) Dr Majida Al-Qattan said all medical tests done on people who came in contact with a female teacher found infected with tuberculosis (TB) in Ahmadi came negative. Qattan added that the teacher had been hospitalized for three weeks and is now completing her treatment at home and enjoying good health. Qattan further mentioned a case of another female teacher who was suffering from non-infectious tuberculosis meningitis and who died in 2016. MOH released a statement later to clarify Qattan’s comments which had caused confusion after she was misquoted in social media as saying that the teacher recently discovered to be infected with tuberculosis had died. It confirmed that the fatal case happened last year, in which the victim passed away while receiving treatment outside Kuwait last December.

10,000 patients

In other news, former head of Kuwait’s office in Germany Dr Suleiman Al-Harbash said that although the office had to deal with over 10,000 Kuwaiti patients in 2015 and 2016, it is being criticized for delaying its bills. As health attache and head of the office in that period, Harbash explained that some documents were sent to the ministry late, and that he completed all documents up to the beginning of 2016 before concluding his tenure. He said the large number of patients was beyond the office’s capacity of serving 400 patients at a time, which led to the delay because of the office was understaffed of qualified accountants. Harbash described accusations pointed at him of wasting or violating public funds as laughable, untrue and driven by personal motives and a wish to defame even his family by questioning the credibility of those who exposed real corruption.

Uncollected debts

Kuwait Municipality Director Ahmed Al-Manfouhi said accumulation of uncollected debts happens for reasons out of the municipality’s control. Speaking in response to inquiries made by Municipal Council member Fahd Al-Sane about what he described as ‘corruption concerning uncollected debts’, Manfouhi explained that such accusations could be made if an executive body neglected doing its duties to protect public funds. Manfouhi said the government’s uncollected debts usually accumulated because of companies’ violation of the contracts of investing in hoardings and banners, which results in fining them, and the delay in paying the fees plus the fines. He also said that one of the reasons was the debts of some employees concerning deduction of social allowances and scholarships for non-deserving employees after they already get them. Manfouhi also stressed that long litigation periods that can go on for years before a sentence is passed are also a main reason for accumulation of debts.

Tenders role

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry urged the Finance Ministry to cooperate on putting the public tenders law into practice, especially in terms of purchases made by government bodies.

Prostitutes arrested

Vice police arrested 17 female expats of various Asian nationalities in separate cases for engaging in prostitution, said security sources. The sources explained that the suspects include two Chinese women arrested in Salmiya, where they charged clients KD 80-100. The sources added that by tracking a social media ad about offering ‘sex services,’ a group of 15 Asian women were arrested. All suspects are awaiting deportation.