A special panel is formed to review the fees of health services provided to expats in the country's state hospitals, the Health Ministry announced Wednesday.
The panel will study increasing the prices of some types of drugs prescribed to expats, Dr. Mahmoud Al-Abdulhadi, Assistant Undersecretary for legal affairs at the health ministry, said in a press conference.
The ministry will announce the updated prices next February after publishing them on the official Gazette, Al-Abdulhadi noted, affirming that the new prices is meant to cope with the rising cost of the ministry's services such as sonar scan, laboratories, nuclear medicine, etc.
The new prices will also be 60 percent lesser than the health services provided in any private hospital, clinic, and center, he said, affirming the ministry's keenness to provide high-quality health services to the expats with affordable prices.
He noted that the costly services such as bone scan, which costs the ministry KD 90, could be provided to expat patients for KD 40, cancer screening, which costs KD 480, could be provided for KD 250, and adrenal gland examination, which costs KD 270, could be provided for KD 70.
Moreover, the fees of 3D and 4D pregnancy ultrasound scans are projected to increase to from KD 10 to KD 25, he said.
On the new health insurance system for the expats, the health official said that the projects in currently in its final stage at the Audit Bureau, adding that the ministry has made preparations for the new system.
As soon as the ministry receives the Audit Bureau's approval, the health ministry will sign an agreement with the Dhaman-Health Assurance Hospitals Company to start the construction of three hospitals and 15 health centers across the country to provide health services for expats, he noted.
Al-Abdulhadi also affirmed that the new insurance system will be mandatory to all expats, except for workers at state bodies, servants and maids.