The National Assembly yesterday overwhelmingly approved a draft law requiring foreigners visiting Kuwait on Visit Visa to obtain a health insurance policy for the duration of the visit.

The law also forbids the interior ministry from issuing visit visas for foreigners without seeing the health insurance policy.

The law stipulates no specific amounts to be paid by the visitors, but this is expected to be defined when the ministry prepares the bylaws for the application of the law following its publication in the official gazette within one month of reaching the government.

The law is expected to be implemented within two to three month time.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Sheikh Basel Al-Sabah said the insurance will cover emergency and necessary surgeries only. He added that to resolve the problem of payment of health insurance by expatriates, the ministry has begun receiving payments online, saying that in the last month, the ministry received KD 3.9 million.