Ministry of Health has decided to delay the hiring of nurses from India until further regulations and rules were set, Health Minister Dr. Jamal Al-Harbi said after his meeting with Indian Ambassador Sunil Jain on Wednesday.

The outgoing Indian Ambassador to Kuwait Sri Sunil Jain today met Minister of Health Dr Al-Harbi and raised his concern of the nurses recruitment. Earlier India government had restricted the recruitment only through suite government agencies in India after a large scale complaints were received on corruption in the recruitment process where the private agencies are charging exorbitant amount of 20 to 23 lakhs for recruitment of nurses to Kuwait MoH.

Recent efforts made by three Kuwaiti agencies for recruiting over 2,000 Indian nurses through Overseas Manpower Limited (OMCL), Chennai has been put on hold till such time the fears of unfair means of recruitment are being addressed by the Government of Kuwait.

Indian Embassy advises all Indian job aspirants not to fall prey to unscrupulous agents in Kuwait/India. In order to ensure fair and transparent means of recruitment of Indian nurses, MoH Kuwait is considering the feasibility of engaging directly with one or two State run Manpower Agencies in India.

Minister Dr Al-Harbi said that Kuwait is interested to hire the best of the best of medical technicians and nurses from Indian; therefore, this decision was taken accordingly. Ambassador Sunil Jain, DCM Sri Raj Gopal Singh, Political Secretary KK Pahel and Labour Secretary Sri Sibi also were present during the meeting.

In the meantime, Ambassador Sunil Jain also raised the grievance regarding non-payment of regular salary to 257 serving Indian nurses in MoH. Minister informed that the issue is under serious consideration of the Kuwaiti Ministry of Health. Adequate number of vacancies is being created for accommodating these Indian nurses within MOH, embassy informed IndiansinKuwait.com.

The Kuwaiti and Indian governments will further discuss the issue and further announcements will be revealed hopefully soon, said the minister.