Kuwait Times, Sunday, Mar 26, 2023 | Ramadan 4, 1444
MoH preparing report to amend medicine fee law
Kuwait :
The Health Ministry has prepared a report to be
presented to Health Minister Dr Ahmad Al-Awadhi, which includes selling medicine
to expatriates at hospitals and clinics instead of paying a fixed KD 5 fee to
receive their medicines, even as the report praised the decision to impose
higher fees on expatriates for receiving medicine.
“The new report finds the consumption of medicines at the ministry’s health
centers and hospitals is still large, and expatriates are still the most who
obtain the drugs relative to their number in the country, being twice the number
of Kuwaitis. The procedures that monitor medicine waste require tighter control
at medical stores as well as government pharmacies,” sources told Kuwait Times.
“There are cases where twice as many medicines are given to expatriates than
they need, with the aim of manipulating the payment of fees, as some quantities
of medicines are dispensed to an expatriate enough for more than one patient.
The report included many cases at hospitals where expatriates are treated who
utilize medical devices in addition to x-rays without paying their fees or
sometimes paying only once,” the sources added.
“This is done with the connivance of doctors or employees. The ministry is in
the process of applying stricter measures to control and prevent such
manipulation, and whoever transgresses the rules will face punitive measures,”
the sources concluded.