New medical fees expected to double revenues

Kuwait Upto Date • October 2, 2017 • 0 Comments

Economic experts are expecting the state revenues to double after the new charges for medical services offered to expatriates are applied, reports Al-Anba daily.

They said the revenues, due to the increased charges of medical services, are expected to increase from KD 130 million to KD 300 million, which is 130 percent higher than the revenues of last year.

The experts affirmed that the fruits of the hike in medical charges will be evident in the budget of 2018/2019. They expected the revenues from some medical services such as dialysis, Xray, medical tests, and artificial limbs to rise from KD 9.5 million this year to KD 16 million in the coming year.

Ministry of Finance had previously approved to set the budget of Ministry of Health for the fiscal year of 2017/2018 at KD 2 billion and 800 million, which includes KD 9 million to be offered as bonus for excellent performance.

Meanwhile, economic expert Yahya Kamshad stressed the new medical charges must be enforced without any exception in order to allow the decision to produce the required result which is to solve the budget deficit.

Another economic expert Bader Al-Otaibi said the decision will help in increasing the non-oil revenues, which will in turn positively affect the public budget. According to sources from Ministry of Finance, the estimated budget of Ministry of Health for the fiscal year of 2017/2018 is about KD 2.1 billion with 11 percent increase compared to the previous year.

Meanwhile, a number of expatriates lamented about the increase in the charges of medical services, stressing that the process began with the increase in fuel prices, followed by increase in electricity and water tariffs and now the medical services, reports Al-Anba daily.

The average salary of expatriates is about KD 400 per month, half of which goes for paying rent while the other half is never enough to cover the remaining expenses such as for education, transportation and food. Therefore, if any of the family members require medical service, they do not have the money to cover that expense. Umm Asma is an expatriate patient who often visits the clinic of respiratory diseases at one of the state hospitals. She wondered how she can spend KD 10 per month instead of the current KD 2 that she spends at the clinic.

Source : Arabtimes