Kuwait: Draft medical liability law sent to Cabinet department
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Jan 2018
The Minister of Health Dr Jamal Al-Harbi has said that his ministry has referred draft legislation on insurance against medical errors to the Fatwa (Legal Advice) and Legislation Department of the Cabinet.
“The department is supposed to study the legal, financial and administrative aspects of the draft as a prelude to referring it to the National Assembly,” he said.
The Minister said that the draft legislation envisages setting up a fund that will collect small fees from physicians, with a view to protecting them against harm relating to their profession, according to a report by the Kuwait News Agency.
Health insurance for expats
In early November last year, Dr Al-Harbi took part in a groundbreaking ceremony for a hospital in Ahmadi governorate. The hospital is part of a plan to build three hospitals and set up 15 medical centres to cater to expatriates and to reduce crowding at public hospitals and primary healthcare centres.
Expatriates will have to pay a health insurance fee of KWD130 (US$430) each annually covering primary and secondary healthcare in the system. They will be barred from seeking treatment in government hospitals. The new fee is much higher than the KWD50 health insurance fee currently being paid by an expatriate.
Around three million expatriates work in Kuwait, two million of whom are in the private sector and whom the new healthcare system mainly targets. It is unclear at present what kind of medical insurance coverage will be arranged for expatriates who work in the public sector.
In 2014, the government established a shareholding company to build the three 700-bed hospitals and 15 polyclinics to provide integrated medical services to foreigners in Kuwait. The government owns 24% of the company’s shares, while 26% are owned by strategic investor, Arabi Holding Group. The remaining 50% will be offered in an initial public offering. M
KWD1 = US$3.31