Solution to the health crisis, medical cities

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THE quality of infrastructure is considered to be one of the indicators of progress in any given country. Indeed, some countries that have inadequate natural wealth work on investing in such infrastructure in order to generate income from them, and within years it will turn into an effective economic force. One of the most prominent infrastructural sectors in this regard is the health sector.

Unfortunately, the Kuwaiti mind lacks this conviction. Rather, our projects are almost aimed for benefit rather than community service. For this reason, overseas medical treatment programs have become a source of wastage of billions of money. Several ministries such as Ministry of Health, Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Interior participate in such wastage to the highest extent.

Usually, the overseas medical treatment programs are used to satisfy certain MPs by sending their electoral keys on medical tourism in order to overlook the shortcomings of a minister. As soon as that happens, the thirst of such an MP grows and he starts demanding more and more perks of appeasement.
FYI, in the last 20 years, Kuwait spent about KD 11 billion on overseas treatment. In some years, the number of applicants for overseas treatment reached 16,000.

This issue continues to trigger the need for the private sector to invest in the health sector and for the establishment of medical cities in order for them to become a national source of income through medical tourism.
The lockdown procedures taken due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the travel ban revealed a great possibility for living without overseas medical treatment, but at the same time unraveled the extent of the need to develop the relevant sector.

If only the medical sector was made conducive for the private sector to compete and thrive, we would have seen developed medical cities that benefit the country.
In many countries of the world, there are medical cities entirely owned by the private sector. In the United Arab Emirates for instance, there are branches of international hospitals that receive patients from all over the world. The state imposes insurance on citizens and residents, thus reducing the budget waste on this sector to almost zero.

What Kuwait needs is the will to adopt decisions and work hard to get out of the cycle of waste in all sectors that have caused a deficit in the state budget, including the health sector.
How long will we continue to spend while disregarding the negative repercussions of such spending in the future?
Unfortunately, we do not pay attention to our reality until disaster strikes. We have a lot of evidence regarding this matter, but its effect or rather awakening is short lived before we return to our old habits.

By Ahmed Al-Jarallah
Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times

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