Manama: Sick leaves in Kuwait's public sector cost the state KD41,725,960 ($149,921,000) in 2011, a government official said.
Women were the main beneficiaries of the days off, taking up 80 per cent of all the sick leaves for government employees, the assistant undersecretary for IT at the civil service commission says.
"According to the figures, 116,418 women took days off for sickness reasons," Ahmad Al Abdul Jalil said. "They represented 80 percent of the total figure of 161,428. The number of men was 45,274, representing 20 percent," he said, quoted by local Arabic daily Al Qabas.
The official said that around five per cent of all government employees in Kuwait had medical leaves in 2011, a one percent increase over the previous year.
"Under the system to monitor the situation, we have noted that 33,690 employees called in sick, but did not actually go to see a doctor," he said. "They represented 21 percent of those who were registered as absent for medical reasons."
The official said that 31,231 worked in ministries, 1,137 in government departments, 1,247 in authorities and 75 in organizations with independent budgets.
According to 2010 reports, sick leaves in 2009 cost the state KD 20 million ($71,859,700), one third more than in 2008.
