As soon as the Kuwaiti authorities closed the door for residency visa trafficking that brokers used to entice innocent people in Egypt to enter Kuwait, another way for brokers to earn illegal money by taking advantage of Egyptians wishing to return to Kuwait is to sell PCR analysis certificates for two thousand Egyptian pounds that says they are free from the coronavirus, reports Al Qabas daily.
The brokers, who are using well-known analysis centers, are claiming that this analysis certificate is approved from the Kuwaiti embassy to allow the person to travel to Kuwait, which was denied by a responsible source to Al-Qabas daily. The Kuwaiti embassy and the Egyptian health office have nothing to do with this matter. The Kuwaiti Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) ’s announcement that one of the conditions for the return of expats to Kuwait, is a PCR analysis certificate, and the brokers are offering one claiming it meets official approval for 2000 Egyptian pounds, and the cost may rise to 3500 Egyptian pounds. Besides, they promise the result will be obtained in 1 day instead of 3 days, despite the civil aviation asserting that the announcement of the details of the test procedures and the centers accredited to each country will be done at a later time.
Some centers were involved in these frauds by promoting their services in the name of the Kuwaiti embassy with a flyer bearing the embassy logo, and it was circulated on the social media sites referring to several accredited centers and doctors. This was denied by an official source in the Kuwaiti embassy, which stressed that “the embassy and its health office have nothing to do with this matter.”
Al-Qabas contacted one of the analysis centers in Cairo, which announced the opening of services to conduct a PCR analysis for Egyptians residing in Kuwait. Someone in Al-Qabas claimed they had to conduct the test for travel purposes, so the center’s employee assured him that “the test is approved by the Egyptian Ministry of Health and the Kuwaiti embassy in Cairo, and stated that the price is 2000 Egyptian pounds, and the results can be delivered to your home at an additional expense, provided that the result is done within 72 hours.
Another center also claimed accreditation from the Egyptian Health Center and the Kuwaiti Embassy, but it provides various services including a smear test within 24 hours only for those who wish to travel to Kuwait, at a price of 3500 Egyptian pounds, and the owner of the center said that “this service is only performed by few centers in terms of the speed and accuracy in conducting the analysis, in addition to its approval and compliance with the requirements announced by civil aviation.”
A victim of such brokers revealed to the daily that the embassy told him that no information was available about the centers, and he fell into the trap of the analysis test centers after he saw the ads that he described as “misleading”, which made him spend 2000 Egyptian pounds without success.
The civil aviation authorities decision to stipulate conducting a coronavirus analysis test before traveling will make medical and tourist workers interested in traveling to flock to centers for the certifications. There are many centers that will compete to provide the examination procedure service according to the required conditions during the coming travel period, and it will generate very big profits for professionals in this field. However, any center that claims to be accredited to attract those who want it is committing fraud, and while there are dozens of centers in Egypt accredited by the health office of the Gulf Cooperation Council, but the matter with respect to coronavirus analysis test is somewhat different, because it is for the first time such a test has been required, and the details of the procedures have not been announced yet.