KUWAIT CITY, Sept 2: MPs Khalid Muhammad Al-Mahan, Soud Al-Asfour, Fahd Al-Masoud, Muhannad Al- Sayer and Badr Nashmi Al-Anzi have submitted a bill on the establishment of a healthcare complex for the treatment of patients who need special care and provide services that are not available in public hospitals as an alternative to overseas treatment. The bill states that the complex shall be under the Health Ministry. Kuwait Municipality shall allocate land for the healthcare complex and the government must complete the project within one year after the allocation of the land.

The ministry will provide the equipment; medical staff including doctors, nurses and technicians; invite specialists and organize regular visits of efficient and experienced doctors for check ups, surgeries and monitoring of serious cases. The complex will cater to patients with approved overseas treatment applications. The executive regulations should be issued within one year of enforcing the bill. Within three years after the ratification of the bill, the ministry should form a higher specialized committee that will be tasked to determine the patients who need to undergo treatment in the complex as an alternative to overseas treatment. The funds needed for establishing the complex will be taken from the public reserve fund, while the budget of the complex will be included in the budget of the ministry. The complex will be totally independent from public health centers and hospitals. A special decree will be issued to organize the administrative and technical management of the complex. Once the complex is established, all committees tasked to determine patients who require overseas treatment will be cancelled.

Meanwhile, MP Mehalhal Al-Mudhaf has forwarded queries to Minister of Information, Endowments and Islamic Affairs Abdulrahman Al-Mutairi about the strategy for developing the Information Ministry that Al-Mutairi announced three years ago. He wants to know the achievement rate of the minister’s plan to establish an advanced, sustainable and good quality media institution; number of partnership contracts with the private sector for the implementation of the strategy that the minister announced three years ago, progress of the media production zone which is included in the strategy, and achievements related to the development of media marketing and supporting drama and theater productions. Moreover, National Assembly Speaker Ahmed Al-Saadoun sent a cable to his Vietnamese counterpart Hung Vuong Hanoi to greet him on the National Day of his country. By Saeed Mahmoud Saleh Arab Times Staff