Tabtabaei to question health minister
KUWAIT CITY: MP Waleed Al-Tabtabaei has accused the Ministry of Health (MoH) of negligence and of deliberately ignoring the specialized Chest Diseases Hospital. Speaking to Al-Rai daily, he said the Ministry is not only neglecting the existing hospital, it is also delaying the inauguration of the new Chest Diseases Hospital, built with the donations of the Cooperative Societies Union. According to the MP, one of the hospital's suppliers behaves in a very authoritative manner and prevents other suppliers from providing the much-needed instruments and equipment to the new hospital.
Accusing the supplier of having 'powerful' connections in the Ministry, the MP said, "it is the supplier who has a say in all the administrative and financial affairs of the hospital." According to Al-Tabtabaei, three managers of the hospital namely Dr Fahed Al-Khalifa, Dr Fauziya Al-Kandari, Dr Ebraheem Al-Rashdan will either be terminated or will be transferred to other hospitals allegedly because they refused to approve a number of machines brought by the supplier as they were not up to the standard and were also very expensive. Al-Tabtabaei also raised the issue of the new ward donated by Bader Sheikhan Al-Farici, which in spite of being fully equipped is not being connected with the rest of the hospital apparently because it would cost KD 50,000.
"Despite having a huge budget, amounting to hundreds of millions of dinars, the Ministry of Health does not want to spend KD 50,000 here," he added. It is ironical that the government does not want to spend money on upgrading its own hospitals but it is willing to spend much more in sending patients abroad for treatment, he said. "There is neither dearth of human resources nor money for starting new hospitals," he added.
According to Al-Tabtabaei, the ministry is deliberately ignoring the hospital because it follows orders of the supplier."Even Minister Sheikh Ahmed Abdullah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah is not able to function as the general manager of the ministry," he accused. The MP said he will submit a number of questions regarding the hospital and its way of functioning to the minister. Meanwhile, MP Abdullah Akash said the performance of the Ministry is below expectations.He too wondered why the Ministry is not opening new hospitals in spite of receiving handsome donations from many generous people in the country. "These hospitals only need equipment and machinery to get started," he added.
Wondering whether the Ministry wants citizens to donate for even the machines, Akash asked what does MoH do with such a huge budget. "Despite having a good hospital and the best qualified doctors, people continue to suffer only due to the negligence of the Ministry," he noted. The delay in the opening of the Cooperative Union Cardiac Hospital is the responsibility of the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Cooperative Society Union is not accountable, Al Rai daily reported the Chairperson of Cooperative Societies Union, Mohammed Al Mutairi, as having said.
Speaking to the press, he said the MoH is completely responsible as the delay is caused in the purchase of medical equipment. The union, he said, handed over the key of the KD 12.9 million worth hospital after the construction was over to the MoH. The estimated cost of the equipment in the hospital is KD 2.4 million. He further said that there is some misunderstanding between the medical-equipment company and the company responsible for training the staff, "which is costing more time."
"The Ministry initially agreed to build a 20-meter bridge connecting the old building and the new building of the hospital, but later recanted the idea," he added pointing out the prevailing confusion in the ministry. He accused the ministry of applying pressure tactics on the union trying to make it bear the cost of the bridge, about KD 20,000, "in total contradiction of the contract signed at the beginning. The government department including MoH, Ministry of Public Works, Ministry of Planning and the Cooperative Societies supervised the process of construction."
© Arab Times 2007
