Nearly two dozen non-governmental organizations in the country have urged the Ministry of Health (MoH) to rescind the recent decision by contractors working under the ministry to terminate the services of nursing staff under their employment and to settle the issue in a fair and legal manner.<\/p>\n
The organizations pointed out that at the height of the pandemic these same nurses were out on the frontline putting their lives at risk to protect the citizens and residents in the country. In a statement, the associations expressed their strong dissatisfaction at what they called \u2018inhuman behavior\u2019 on the part of the contracting companies, and called on the Minister of Health, Dr. Khaled Al-Saeed to intervene and settle this issue amicably, and punish those found responsible for the fiasco.<\/p>\n
The associations said the expatriate nurses of different nationalities were taken by surprise when the companies that hired them to work in hospitals and healthcare centers terminated their job contracts after the companies\u2019 contract with the Ministry of Health expired. To add insult to injury, the contracting companies are now demanding huge sums of money from the nurses to sign a new contract, which is in violation of all rules and regulations governing their profession and in clear violation of the Kuwait labor law.<\/p>\n
The associations noted that the role played by the medical staff, especially the nursing staff, in helping to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic was crystal clear and that their humanitarian actions towards citizens, residents and bedouins exceeded all expectations.<\/p>\n
The associations pointed out that they had raised the issue in the media and social media for several days, but the authorities in MoH remained unmoved by the plight of the nursing staff. The ministry attempted to pass the responsibility for the termination of the nursing staff on to the contracting companies, which had to comply with relevant laws regulating the residence of medical staff whose contract has expired.<\/p>\n
Noting that the MoH had on several occasions stated that it plans to hire a large number of nurses directly to fulfill the many vacancies that exist in the health sector, the associations wanted to know why the terminated nursing staff who were experienced and qualified could not be hired directly by MoH.<\/p>\n
The associations added that being, \u201ca civil society organization, we feel a great responsibility towards those who will be wronged by the actions of some officials of the Ministry of Health who are indifferent to the interests of the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nearly two dozen non-governmental organizations in the country have urged the Ministry of Health (MoH) to rescind the recent decision by contractors working under the ministry to terminate the services of nursing staff under their employment and to settle the issue in a fair and legal manner. The organizations pointed out that at the height […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":89680,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,18],"tags":[60,1218,222],"class_list":["post-89678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-local","tag-kuwait","tag-ministry-of-health","tag-moh"],"yoast_head":"\n