The decision by the Ministry of Health to collect fees for dispensing medicines from expatriate outpatients who are registered in the health insurance system will improve the healthcare services, stop abuse of medicines and control disbursement.
Medical sources said the medicine fees will be in addition to the health consultation fees and came into effect Dec 18. The decision includes the continuation of the implementation of ministerial decisions regarding the exemption of some categories of health services fees.
Health sources told a local Arabic daily the expected proceeds collected from expatriate through dispensing medicines will exceed 29 million dinars annually, as the average number of outpatient clinics is about 1.8 million expatriates annually, compared to about 2.2 million expatriates who visit clinics and hospital accidents annually.
The sources renewed the demand, to increase the recent budget allocated to medicines, which is estimated at 520 million dinars, and to strengthen it with more than a quarter of an additional million dinars, which requires the ministry to find quick and effective solutions to meet the increased demand for medicines.
The sources indicated that the ministry had obtained about 1.25 billion dinars from the victim insurance project for expatriates, from July 2003 to March 2019, and it is likely that the revenues expected to be collected from health centers and hospitals will double after the decision to impose fees on medicines for expatriates, indicating that it coincides with expectations of an increase in the demand for health care services in Kuwait in the near term, due to the increase in the population in the country.
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