Kuwait mulling increased healthcare fees for visitors

The Kuwaiti government is considering increasing healthcare fees for visitors to the country starting from August, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported yesterday, marking the fourth time such fees have been raised.

According to a government source, the increase is to include fees for services offered at government hospitals by 100 per cent. The new rise aims to improve the income of government ministries in return for improving services, the source said, noting that Kuwait imports more than 90 per cent of its medical supplies.

According to the source, this rise comes in light of an increasing number of visitors to the country, which exceeded the capacity of government hospitals and led to a decrease in the quality of services.

The General Statistics Administration said that the number of visitors or non-Kuwaiti residents in the country is 3.38 million, compared to 1.4 million Kuwaitis.

In 2017, the government approved the first increase in healthcare fees, which reached 500 per cent. In 2018, healthcare service fees were among the rise in fees for other public services. In April, the government increased the fees for health insurance, making this the fourth increase.

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