Egyptian gang held for tampering with expats blood tests – Call for maximum penalty

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KUWAIT CITY, Feb 3, (Agencies): A group of people working at Kuwait Ministry of Health’s (MoH) foreign labor test center, were arrested because they tampered with blood test samples, the MoH Assistant Undersecretary for Public health Dr. Majda Al-Qattan said Friday.

The MoH, acting upon an urgent request by the Ministry of Interior on Wednesday, carried out tests on four Egyptian nationals, including Hepatitis, Tuberculosis and AIDS, Al-Majda explained to KUNA. The results came out on Thursday, showing two of the Egyptians were infected with Hepatitis-B and two with Hepatitis-C, she said. Tuberculosis tests were negative, she added.

Al-Qattan noted the ministry of interior has been monitoring employees at the foreign labor test center for four months who were tampering with tests’ results by tampering with blood samples when moving them between the room where blood samples were taken and the laboratory.

A security guard and an MoH inspector were implicated, she said. Al-Qattan said this gang was led by an Egyptian woman who was forging stamps used to clear tests. “This woman put the clear-to-go stamp on polluted samples,” she said. Al-Qattan said they identified a number of expatriates who passed the medical test through this gang. Al-Qattan said the MoH would also coordinate with the Foreign Ministry to prevent such forgery.

Chairman of Parliament’s Health Committee Dr Hamoud Al-Khudair says tampering with the blood tests of expatriate workers is a serious matter that requires the maximum penalty to be imposed on the perpetrators who dare to violate the law for achieving illegal benefits, reports Al-Rai daily. He revealed that there are some expatriate workers in the country whose blood tests were tampered with even though they suffer from contagious diseases.

Dr Al-Khudair urged the concerned authorities to investigate the matter and find out who is behind this phenomenon so that they are punished and can serve as a deterrent for others. A member of Parliament’s Health Committee MP Khaled Al-Otaibi said he wondered about the manipulation of the medical examination file, insisting that he will open an intensive investigation with the leaders of Ministry of Health and present parliamentary questions to Minister of Health to unravel the truth behind this matter.

In addition, MP Saleh Ashour called for conducting medical examinations of expatriate workers after they are granted residency, even if they present proof that they are fit, in order to avoid any manipulation of the results of tests.

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