Licences for non-Kuwaiti pharmacists halted
Health ministry restricts pharmacy management to citizens
Cairo: As part of Kuwaiti authorities’ efforts to regulate work of private pharmacies, Kuwaiti Health Minister Dr Khalid Al Saeed has decreed limiting management of such facilities to Kuwaitis holding licences to practice the profession and opening them, a local newspaper has reported.
Pharmacies are given three months to readjust their status, Al Rai said. Violators will face unspecified legal action.
Another ministerial decree has suspended looking into applications to get licences for practising the profession of pharmacists for non-Kuwaitis or issuing licences for new private pharmacies,
The suspicion will remain in effect until a related study is finalised, the paper added without further details.
The numbers of foreign pharmacists or non-Kuwaiti managers of pharmacies are unknown.
Kuwait seeks to redress its demographic imbalance amid fallout from the COVID-19.
Foreigners make up nearly 3.4 million of Kuwait’s overall population of 4.6 million.
In recent months, there have been increasing calls in Kuwait for curbing foreigners’ employment along accusations that migrant workers have strained the country’s infrastructure facilities amid economic repercussions from the pandemic.