Soldiers outside may lose their jobs

KUWAIT CITY, March 11: There are scores of Saudi military personnel working for the Kuwaiti Army and are ‘stranded’ because of the temporary closure of the land borders between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, as part of precautionary measures to confront the emerging coronavirus, reports Al-Rai daily quoting Kuwaiti defense sources.

The sources pointed out dozens of Saudi soldiers who were on visit to their country at the end of last week were unable to return following the closure of the border and calls for setting up a special mechanism to deal with each case separately, especially since some of them traveled without permission or leave and now face dismissal from service if they do not join their units during the specified time, and will also deprive them of their dues.

In a related context, the Ministry of Defense has put in place a special mechanism to deal with the coronavirus by training its personnel how to deal with it, especially since the ministry has the expertise, capabilities and mechanisms that it has put at the disposal of the Ministry of Health.

Sources indicated that a military force affiliated to ‘Health’ is expected to be screened to secure and protect the fourth health quarantine center, which is likely to be readied over the next few days.