Manama: Kuwait has decided to bring back expat doctors who were stranded in various countries due to the suspension of air travel following the coronavirus pandemic, local media reported.
The medical professionals, who were working with the Health Ministry’s hospitals in the country, will be brought back in the first half of July, Kuwait newspaper Al Jarid reported, citing well-informed sources.
Kuwait is coordinating with the home countries of those doctors including India, Pakistan and Egypt on their return, the report added. The ministry has compiled lists of those doctors to chart out their return flights, the newspaper continued.
Kuwaiti government medical facilities have already sent names of their expat medical staff to the ministry’s technical committee to arrange for their return.
According to sources, the ministry has employed great efforts over the past weeks to clinch return procedures of the expat doctors, who work at the Health Ministry’s hospitals and other facilities and are still trapped abroad due to the eruption of the coronavirus pandemic.
Earlier this month, 658 nurses and lab technicians were returned from India in three groups. Other batches of nurses will soon rejoin to their work in Kuwait from the Philippines and Egypt, sources said.
Meanwhile, Kuwait has set to enter the second phase of the five-phase process to return to normalcy- the reopening of commercial complexes with 30 per cent capacity- from Tuesday, June 30.
Government offices will reopen on Tuesday after more than three months of closure at a maximum capacity of 30 percent. Curfew will be reduced to 8 pm to 5 am daily starting Tuesday for three weeks. Malls, gardens and public parks will be allowed to operate between 10 am and 6 pm, while restaurants and cafes will be permitted partial operations except for dine-in.
Money exchangers, construction work, and retail shops will also be permitted to reopen.
All are instructed to abide by stringent health precautions, especially wearing masks and social distancing, sources said.
The shift to the second stage was scheduled to commence on June 21 but was delayed due to a sudden spike in the number of coronavirus cases, especially among citizens.
But the months-long lockdown of Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh and Mahboula and the closure of Farwaniya, will be continued, according to the government spokesman Tariq Al-Muzram. These three areas are home to over 7,00,000 expats.
Kuwait has the second highest recoveries from the coronavirus after Qatar. Of the total cases, 77.98% or 33,367 patients were recovered.
Kuwait on Friday recorded 909 new coronavirus cases, raising the country’s infection tally to 42,788. Two more people succumbed to the disease, bringing the total such fatalities in Kuwait to 339. Of the total cases, 250 cases were recorded in Farwaniya governorate.
Earlier this week, Kuwait has reduced nighttime curfew hours and lifted its total lockdown on several neighborhoods.
The country recently ranked 10 globally for COVID-19 emergency preparedness out of 200 countries by the Hong Kong-based Deep Knowledge Group.
The country placed 21 out of 100 on the assessment's overall COVID-19 safety index, recently.
