The Interior Ministry has urged the Health Ministry to report any patients admitted to its hospitals with expired visas so that they could be turned in pending legal procedures and deportation, local daily reported. Both ministries are currently coordinating to arrest all illegal residents hospitalized in various public hospitals and medical centers and to report on anyone already discharged after receiving medical treatment, the report added. The measure was taken to help authorities track down visa violators and reduce their numbers. The move came after the Interior Ministry received information about expatriates in violation of residency visa laws or expired visas currently hospitalized.

According to report, hospitals had already been contacted to turn in these expats, but their administrations refused with the excuse that they were patients receiving medical treatment. “That is why Interior Ministry contacted Health Ministry and all hospitals were notified to report and turn in such cases,” explained the sources.