Kuwait has issued a new decision that imposes fees on expatriates for blood transfusions. The decision was issued by Kuwait’s Health Minister Dr Ahmad Al-Awadhi.
This step comes within the framework of the ministry’s efforts to preserve the country’s strategic reserves of blood.
Expatriates residing in Kuwait will be charged Kuwaiti Dinar 20 (Rs 5354) per bag of blood, while those on visit visas will be charged Kuwaiti Dinar 40 (Rs 10,707) per bag.
Additionally, public health facilities will collect fees from expatriates for up to 37 blood-related lab tests.
The fee amounts range from Kuwaiti Dinar 0.5 to 15 (Rs 133 to 4,015) for expat residents and from Kuwaiti Dinar 5 to Kuwaiti Dinar 70 for visitors.
However, fees will not be charged for expatriate patients in emergency or urgent cases, cancer patients, children and other humanitarian situations. Additionally, patients who provide their own blood donors will be exempt from these charges.
In December 2022, the Kuwaiti government decided to impose fees on expatriates related to health services provided to clinic patients, hospital emergencies, outpatient clinics, and dispensing medicines.
In June 2022, Kuwaiti official reports revealed that the total number of expatriates in the country is estimated at 2.962 million, representing 87 per cent of the population.
Kuwait recruited 99,500 new workers during the year 2022, after lifting the restrictions that were imposed during the two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.
