KUWAIT CITY, Dec 25: MP Osama Al-Shaheen has forwarded queries to Minister of Social Affairs and State Minister for Family, Women and Children Affairs Sheikh Feras Al-Sabah about Article 42bis of Disabled Law No. 73/2020; which stipulates granting full indemnity to employees with medium and severe disabilities, as well as those taking care of them.

Al-Shaheen wants to know the number of individuals covered by this Article (the disabled and those appointed to take care of them) who have retired since the ratification of Law No. 8/2010 and its amendment -- Law No. 73/2020.

He also asked Minister of Education, Higher Education and Scientific Research Adel Al- Manea why the heads of departments in adult and illiteracy schools are excluded from the special salaries allocated for teachers and heads of departments in regular schools even if they carry out the same tasks like teaching, preparing exam questions and lesson plans.

MP Jarrah Al-Fawzan asked Minister of Commerce and Industry and State Minister for Youth Affairs Muhammad Al-Aiban about the rationale behind allowing the representatives of companies to check the quality and descriptions of products at the Public Authority for Industry (PAI); legal basis of this step; list of such companies including the services they provide; and if PAI’s laboratories are capable of checking commodities like food, oil, toys and others. If yes, he wants to know when PAI started checking local and imported commodities and fees collected for this process. He also inquired if the Ministry of Commerce and Industry collects fees from the companies for allowing their representatives to check the quality and descriptions of products at the headquarters of PAI.

MP Meteb Ayed Al-Anzi asked Minister of Education, Higher Education and Scientific Research Adel Al-Manea about the budget allocated for the charity fund that shoulders the expenses of Bedoun and needy students in the last three years; number of beneficiaries; number of rejected applicants; criteria for approving applications; institutions supporting the charity fund; amount of their donations; list of donor institutions and schools receiving a certain percentage of the budget of the fund.

MP Hamad Al-Matar asked Minister of Health Ahmed Al-Awadhi about the factors that led to the shortage of nurses in public hospitals, plan of the ministry to address such shortage, if the ministry asked its Higher Education and Scientific Research counterpart to allocate more seats for students who want to take nursing and copies of related correspondences if the answer is ‘yes’.

MP Mehalhal Al-Mudhaf asked Minister of Commerce and Industry and State Minister for Youth Affairs Mohammad Al-Aiban to provide him with the list of companies authorized to export petroleum derivatives and diesel, and copies of the licenses that PAI granted to them. He also inquired about the number of vacant senior positions at Kuwait General Administration for Customs (KGAC) since Al-Aiban assumed office compared to the total number of leadership positions.

By Saeed Mahmoud Saleh
Al-Seyassah/Arab Times Staff