Govt against reduction in retiring ageKUWAIT CITY, Oct 18: The Staff Association of Kuwait University has called for excluding expatriate lecturers of the university from paying the new charges of medical services, reports Al-Rai daily.The association warned that including them in the decision will pave way for them to demand amendment of their contracts in order to compensate the cost that they will bear due to the enforcement of the decision. It stressed that the expatriate lecturers at Kuwait University, both Arabs and non-Arabs, are eligible to receive free medical care as per the signed contracts between them and the university.Spokesperson of the association Anwar Al-Shuraiaan explained that the contracts guarantee free medical care for the lecturers and their families. This was taken into consideration when their salaries were decided. He indicated that including expatriate lecturers in the decision to increase charges of medical services offered to expatriates will bring about financial imbalance in the signed contracts in a way that will badly affect the teaching staff members.Meanwhile, the government is completely against any proposal related to reducing the retirement age for men or women especially since the Public Authority for Social Security has been strongly objecting to such proposals, reports Al-Qabas daily quoting an informed source. He said the government believes the negative consequences of such a law are higher than the positive ones, indicating that the Department of Fatwa and Legislation is preparing a response to the proposal as a prelude to its discussion by the Cabinet with the expectation of it being cancelled.The source explained that the declared headlines of the proposal are not practical, and it will not contribute to reducing the unemployment rate as claimed by MPs. On the contrary, such a law could increase the unemployment rate. Reducing the retirement age does not help in reducing the expenses. The law will not be in line with the government’s policy which is aimed at rationalizing expenditures. It will instead contribute to increasing the deficit in the funds for social security.