Kuwait to levy new health fees on expats

Cairo: Kuwait has decided to impose new fees for health services on expatriates, a Kuwaiti newspaper reported on Sunday.

The fees has been decided by the Health Ministry on expatriates benefitting from services offered by medical centres, emergency hospitals and outpatient clinics, added Al Rai, citing health sources.

“As part of reform steps being implemented, the ministry intends to impose special fees on dispensing medicines to expatriate patients, in addition to the regular fees,” the sources added without giving specific figures.

There was no immediate comment from the ministry.

Foreigners make up nearly 3.4 million of Kuwait’s overall population of around 4.6 million. In recent years, Kuwaiti authorities have sought to redress demographic imbalance in the country.