Investment authority pays 50 percent of Dhaman Health Insurance Company’s cost
Security considerations prevent transferring liabilities to roads authority
Special services sought for martyrs’ children
KUWAIT: Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) has paid around KD 115 million as 50 percent of the cost for the public shareholding company that was established to build hospitals for expatriates covered by the health insurance system. This amount represents citizens’ share in the Dhaman Health Insurance Company, and is expected to be offered to citizens in an initial public offering in 2018. The project will organize health services in Kuwait and mainly targets the benefit of expats who are expected to only pay a comprehensive annual insurance fee without paying any extra charges when they visits hospitals built and operated by Dhaman. The health insurance company’s operational plan is expected to start in 2018 by launching a number of integrated primary health care clinics, before launching further primary and secondary services by 2020. The hospitals will be located in AlAhmadi, Al-Jahra, and Al-Farwaniya, providing surgery, internal medicine, pediatrics, operating rooms, accident and emergency, central laboratories and radiology.
Recruitment priority
MP Saleh Ashour criticized the government for what he described as failure to implement a decree last January and prioritizes the recruitment of Kuwaiti women’s children in state departments. In an inquiry addressing Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Anas Al-Saleh, Ashour pointed out that many Arab expats had been appointed in positions that could be filled by Kuwaiti women’s children.
Grace period
The parliamentary legislation committee yesterday received a memo including the Supreme Judicial Council’s opinion about a proposal made by MP Waleed Al-Tabtabai suggesting extending the grace period to file a contest before the court of cassation from 30 to 60 days. The council initially accepted the proposal but limited the extension to 40 days so that defendants and their lawyers could have enough time to study the verdict and file their contests. The proposal suggests amending the first clause of article 153 of decree law number 38/1980 to define the contest grace period in letters to sixty days instead of only using the digit ‘60,’ and omitting the phrase ‘effective as of publication in the official gazette’ to ‘one month after publication.’
Legislations
Head of the parliamentary legislation affairs committee MP Al-Humaidi Al-Subai’e stressed that the proposal made on regulating the appointment of senior officials will help limit favoritism and deals made in such cases. Following the committee’s meeting held yesterday, Subai’e said that the committee has rejected a proposal to regulate private tuitions by building special private schools that will contradict with developing education. Subai’e added that bedoons’ civil rights were one of the top priority proposals and that the committee will discuss it within a fortnight.
Roads authority
Head of the parliamentary budgets and final statements committee Adnan Abdulsamad said that the committee met with officials from the Interior Ministry, Ministry of Public Works, the Public Authority for Roads and Transport, the State Audit Bureau, the auditors apparatus and the Civil Service Commission to discuss transferring the liabilities of the newly-established roads authority
from various other state department as per the authority’s founding law. Abdulsamad explained that the roads sector was transferred from the public works ministry to the authority with all its liabilities as per a meeting held with the prime minister on March 23, 2017 with the aim of avoiding contradiction of liabilities. He added that the interior ministry is yet to transferred some of its liabilities, such as technical vehicles’ checkup and drivers’ licenses, to the authority due to security considerations.
Martyrs’ children
The Amiri Diwan undersecretary and director of Al-Shaheed (Martyrs) Bureau Fatima Al-Ameer said that extensive meetings was held with the central apparatus for illegal residents’ affairs to discuss the number of non-Kuwaiti martyrs’ families registered in the bureau and not registered in the apparatus. Discussions in the meeting focused on finding ways to allow those families to receive health and educational services, she added. Speaking during a ceremony held to honor martyrs’ creative children, Ameer said that the meetings discussed issuing a health card by which martyrs’ families who are not registered with the apparatus could receive medical care. Ameer added that an agreement was made with the Interior Ministry to have relevant authorities study the files of martyrs during offensive operations pending granting them citizenship.