Expatriates who are suffering from cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure and other non-infectious diseases, will not be given residency permits by the Kuwaiti government, a move to reduce healthcare cost spending of the country and to ensure that incoming expats are fit to work.
In her statement on the matter, Assistant Undersecretary for General Health Affairs in the country’s Ministry of Health, Majida Al Qattan, confirmed the news, stating that it comes in line with a GCC council decision which dates back to 2001, reported Stepfeed.
The Kuwaiti Ministry of Health has since identified 22 illnesses covered by the new rule.
Other illnesses mentioned include kidney failure, renal failure, and vision problems. This is the first time the country bans people with non-infectious illnesses from entering it, said the report.
Before this, the country stopped people with infectious diseases only from entering or leaving the country, including HIV-AIDS, Herpes, Hepatitis B and G, Malaria, Leprosy, Syphilis, Tuberculosis, and Gonorrhea.