Concern over ‘bachelors’ living...
Separately, Kuwaiti medics strongly responded to various parliamentary proposals made to resolve Kuwait’s demographic imbalance, including the most recent one by MP Safaa Al-Hashem to consider the fees paid by expats at clinics and hospitals as the cost of medical examination and diagnosis and make them purchase prescribed medicines from private pharmacies.
In response to doctors’ reactions, Hashem insisted that she does not care about criticism directed at her as long as she “has sworn to protect people’s freedom, interests and funds”. She claimed that only the ignorant deal with the state and its funds as charity.
Doctors told Al-Rai daily that there should be no discrimination between Kuwaitis and expats in healthcare and education. They also sensed a “wish to make electoral gains” by making such statements and proposals. Some doctors also described the call as full of racism in a country known to respect and protect human rights. Other doctors called for not blaming expats for demographic problems and stressed the need to look into their real causes, such as visa traffickers, bribe payers and collectors, and public fund thieves.
In this regard, Kuwait University teaching staff syndicate chairman Dr Suleiman Al-Khaddari said Kuwait is committed to various international human rights agreements in terms of basic rights of all people living here, especially over healthcare and educational services. “Discrimination between citizens and expats in health and education is unacceptable,” he underlined, noting that both state and private sector companies are compelled by law to provide health insurance for their employees. “Unfortunately, some people are trying to hold expats accountable for demographic problems without looking into the real causes,” he rued.
Dr Fatima Khajah expressed amazement at Hashem’s persistence to impose more financial burdens on expats. “Kuwait is known for its benevolence, so stop depriving people of their human rights and go after public fund thieves to resolve economic problems instead,” she said. Dr Fawaz Farhan rejected what he described as temporary racist and inhuman solutions, noting that a large segment of expats cannot afford to buy their own medicine.
Dr Adel Redha said the proposal is very emotional and it would not resolve the problem. “Our health sector problems are not because of expats.” Dr Anwar Hayati described Hashem’s proposal as imaginary, inapplicable and unacceptable. Hayati also urged some lawmakers to stop making gains at the expense of the humanity of Kuwait and its people. “Stop such attempts to win more votes,” he said, noting that such proposals pose an interference in doctors’ work and authorities.
Dr Mohammed Al-Sanafi said some expat patients already have problems paying some medical fees, and that it would be impossible for them to buy their own medicine. “Medical treatment is a right that should be guaranteed for everybody, including citizens and expats,” said Dr Hamad Al-Ansari.
In a different concern, recent statistics show that 83 percent of expats (1.2 million) working in both the public and the private sector do not hold any university degrees, informed sources told Al-Qabas daily. The sources attributed this high percentage to various factors such as an increase in marginal laborers, Kuwait’s incapability to attract well-qualified degree holders by offering handsome wages, the continuation of visa trafficking, reliance of many sectors on cheap labor, increases in domestic laborers’ numbers (4 to 6 per 10 citizens), failure to impose Kuwaitization ratios and failure to adjust Kuwait’s demographic structure.