Lawmakers spar over ‘corrupt powers’ claims
Hospitals stopped dealing with Kuwaiti patients: MP
MP Riyadh Al-Adasani heavily criticized MP Jamaan AlHarbash over statements in which the latter argued that two grilling motions filed against His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak AlSabah were supported by ‘corrupt powers’ outside the National Assembly. Adasani, who had submitted one of the interpellations, said Harbash’s statement will not be ignored and that he will call for a session to discuss those claims. He said Harbash must name the corrupt people who he claims have supported the grilling motions.
Payment delays
Separately, MP Khalid AlOtaibi said some hospitals abroad have stopped dealing with Kuwaiti patients due to delays in paying earlier bills. He said that he received several calls when he was in London asking him to intervene and put an end to this issue, prompting him to visit several hospitals, and the claims were confirmed. He said the British government collects tax from private hospitals based on operations’ cost, so they stopped dealing with Kuwaiti patients and health offices. Otaibi asked the prime minister to instruct state ministries to pay the bills as quickly as possible, especially that some offices have debts that do not warrant a halt on dealing with patients because of them.
Negligent companies
The Ministry of Electricity and Water’s (MEW) Undersecretary Mohammad Bushehri said rules and regulations will be implemented in all ministry projects, according to the instructions of Minister Essam Al-Marzouq. He said two warnings will be given to negligent companies, and if violations continue, the project will be taken back from the company as per the tender’s conditions. He said he has asked for applying the rules on one such negligent company that has the contract to change wooden poles with metal ones to stop the theft of cables, which costs a huge amount of money.
Home businesses
Ministry of Commerce and Industry has completed the computerization of issuing commercial licenses for home businesses, to start being issued next month, and the transaction will be online only. The new licenses will enable holders to receive labor support as per the law for workers in the private sector, but it will not enable them to add nonKuwaiti labor. The address will be approved through the post office box or a selected entity such as a law office or auditor. A fee of KD 80 was approved to issue the home license, provided certain conditions are met, including that the license holder is at least 21 years old, cannot deal with material related to public health and not disturb neighbors’ among others.
In other news, Minister of Commerce and Industry and Acting Youth Minister Khalid AlRoudhan said the scrap yard was moved from Amghara to A5 location in Naayem based on Cabinet decision 744, adding that this is a temporary location and the yard will be moved to a permanent location to be determined at a later date.