2023-05-08 10:59:09
The imposition of fees by the Kuwaiti Ministry of Health on resident patients in exchange for dispensing blood bags and blood derivatives sparked controversy in society, while observers said that it would increase the pain of expatriate patients, especially those with limited incomes.
According to the decision, which was published yesterday, Sunday, in the Official Gazette, the fees for transfusion of blood and its derivatives amount to 20 dinars ($65.30) per bag for residents registered in the health insurance system, and twice that amount for non-registered ones.
The decision also imposed fees for analyzes related to blood transfusions.
According to the Civil Information Authority, the number of expatriates is 3.2 million, making up more than two-thirds of Kuwait’s population of 4.7 million.
The Ministry of Health said that this step comes “within the framework of preserving the national strategic stock of blood and its derivatives.”
And she explained in a statement that the fees do not include Kuwaiti patients, emergency and critical cases, cancer patients, non-Kuwaiti children, and other humanitarian cases, noting that the patient is exempted from fees if there is a donor for him.
The ministry had increased examination fees and dispensing medicines for expatriates by 250 percent in primary health care centers, known as dispensaries, and by 100 percent in hospitals in December, after the outbreak of the problem of drug shortages and the escalation of parliamentarians’ rhetoric towards the government.
“moral bankruptcy”
The left-wing Kuwaiti Progressive Movement described the decision to impose fees on blood transfusions as “arbitrary” and ill-considered, representing “moral bankruptcy for those in charge of managing the health sector and an unacceptable evasion of commitment to the rules of medical ethics.”
The Progressive Movement’s statement referred to what it described as “the state’s inability to take reform decisions to diversify sources of income, as it tends to target the pockets of citizens and residents with limited income.”
Kuwait has been seeking for years to diversify sources of income, but its plans in this regard have not achieved much success.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Health did not respond to a Archyde.com request for comment.
A member of the Political Bureau of the Progressive Movement, Ahmed Al-Din, stated that this decision “has more harm than good” and will lead to exhaustion of low-income groups of expatriates on a vital issue, without resolving the issue of health spending for the government.
Al-Deen referred to what he described as the “racist tendency” that prevails in society and is fueled by political parties to distract people from major issues and turn the matter over to citizens and expatriates.
He believed that “this tendency distorts people’s awareness and diverts them from the real dimension of the conflict.”
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