ISLAMABAD: Kuwait’s Ministry of Health has awarded permanent contracts to nearly 140 doctors from Pakistan who were working in the emirate on a temporary basis to help fight the coronavirus pandemic, a senior official at the ministry of overseas Pakistanis and human resource development said on Monday.
The doctors previously worked under Kuwait’s “lokum” system for a period of three months, which was extended for an additional three months. Now, after the permanent appointment, they will have similar contracts and job titles as other non-Kuwaiti doctors.
Under the locum system, a doctor is hired on a temporary basis and fills a rotation gap at a hospital, clinic or practice.
“Till date, 239 doctors have been dispatched [to Kuwait] in a total of nine batches through chartered flights since October 2020 in different specialities,” Kashif Ahmed Noor, the director-general of the Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment, told Arab News. “All 140 doctors till the seventh batch got permanent contracts by the ministry of health in Kuwait, out of which two doctors have come back to Pakistan due to their personal reasons.”
“Kuwait is giving batch-wise permanent contracts to Pakistani doctors,” he said, adding that all Pakistani doctors would get permanent contracts except those who did not receive adequate evaluations from their supervisors.
He said Pakistan would send more doctors to Kuwait later in September.
Sixth batch of Pakistani medical professionals arrive in Kuwait on June 24, 2021. (Photo courtesy: @PakinKuwait/Twitter)
Pakistan’s ambassador to Kuwait Syed Sajjad Haider said the two countries had signed an agreement on the placement of health care professionals in Kuwait in July last year.
“Under the agreement, around 1,500 paramedics staff are already working in Kuwait including doctors, nurses and technicians,” Haider told Arab News. “As our response to COVID-19 was appreciated by the World Health Organization and other entities, Kuwait was very keen to take maximum medical staff from Pakistan and they are satisfied with their performance.”
Undersecretary of Ministry of Health in Kuwait, Dr. Mustafa Reza (first left) poses for a picture with the Ambassador of Pakistan in Kuwait, Syed Sajjad Haider (first right), after signing an agreement to send 600 Pakistani healthcare professionals to work in Kuwait, in Kuwait on July 04, 2020. ( Photo Courtesy: @PakinKuwait/Twitter)
Kuwait’s embassy in Islamabad did not respond to questions seeking comment for this story.
