Kuwait

Workers at the Mishref sewage treatment station were surprised on noticing a noـentry sign slapped on the exterior gate of the station. It has been reported that the wrought iron gate was tightly closed to refuse workers access to the facility. AlـWatan has learnt that the ministry had closed down the station and prevented the entry of workers since Wednesday with repairـwork grinding to a complete halt. Workers were nowhere to be seen at the site of the station.

An official source stated that the decision to close down the station was prompted by the instructions of the Experts Committee until such a time that it enters the station to assess the damage caused by the malfunction of the station lately. This also coincides with a case filed at a local court by the Ministry of Public Works against the station’’s contractor.

Seven cases of swine flu were detected among students, four of them in private schools, said Minister of Education Moudi AlـHomoud on Thursday. Speaking to the press, AlـHomoud urged the administrators of public and private schools to follow the ministry’’s swine flu prevention guidelines to limit the infection, affirming that the ministry would hold meetings between heads of private and public schools to exchange expertise on how to deal with the discovery of swine flu in their schools.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry revealed that up to 253 flu cases were detected last week, adding that the total number of reported cases has reached 2,881 since April. A Health Ministry statement urged people to follow the World Health Organization’’s (WHO) guidelines in the prevention of swine flu.Children under five, pregnant women, and the elderly over the age of 65 are the most likely to get infected with the disease.

Abdulrazzaq is a 20-something happy employee at a government institute with a college degree from an esteemed European university. Last week, however, he was an unhappy patient with an acute case of tonsillitis. Given that when he decided to see a doctor it was way past midnight, and because a private hospital was closer to him than his district's government hospital, Abdulrazzaq opted for the costly private option.

The doctor prescribed him the following: painkillers; gargling solution; lozenges; vitamin C pills; and an antibiotic injection. The bill he paid came up to KD 40. Abdulrazzaq thought the prescribed medication must be extremely effective, given the amount he paid for it. But most of the prescribed drugs were unnecessary for him, says Dr. Mohammad of the Ministry of Health, who spoke under the condition of confidentiality.

A nine-month old Kuwaiti infant suffering from heart infection and developmental delays died on Wednesday after being infected with the A/H1N1 swine flu virus, bringing the toll up to eight, the Health Ministry announced Wednesday. The deceased baby, who was taken to a number of hospitals, was admitted on Tuesday in critical condition and was placed in the intensive care unit and given the antiviral drugs but was too weak to fight the disease. Most of the swine flu deaths in Kuwait have been those of patients suffering from other illness. Most of the people infected with the disease have recovered. The recovery percentage in Kuwait 99 percent.

The Minister of Education, Dr. Moudhi Al-Humoud, recently made unscheduled visits to several private schools in the Farwaniya educational directorate to take a closer look at the preparations put in place in them to combat the threat of the spread of swine flu. She said afterwards that the steps taken there had ensured that everything had gone smoothly since the start of the school year, calling on the educational staff to carry on performing their teaching duties.

During her visit, the minister inspected the schools' medical clinics' preparations, in addition to their provision of sanitizers and other protective materials, demonstrating her satisfaction with the procedures adopted, reported Al-Qabas.

The Cabinet decided on Monday to set up a special panel to tackle the question of non-accredited universities and faculties. Minister of Education and Higher Education Moudhi Abdel Aziz Al-Humoud, at the weekly regular session of the Cabinet, briefed the ministers about the problem of unrecognized schools, academies and universities, and the steps that have been taken to prevent the Kuwaiti students from being enrolled in such teaching institutions. Dr Al-Humoud presented a report to the executives about the issue in light of visits that had been paid by national academic delegations to a number of countries to examine closely these establishments and scrutinize their educational levels to determine whether they meet international standards.

The Ministry Of Interior is preparing to deport 17,000 illegal expatriates belonging to 22 nationalities by the end of the year, reported local daily An-Nahar yesterday. It said the ministry has applied to the Central Tenders Committee (CTC) to purchase air tickets for the deportees as requested by the deportation department.

According to the memo made by the ministry's correctional facilities directorate, the tickets requested for deportees included 4,000 to Bangladesh, 3,500 to India, 1,000 to the Philippines, 1,000 to Indonesia, 1,000 to Sri Lanka, 1,200 to Egypt, 1,050 to Pakistan, 50 to Thailand, 50 to Malaysia, 500 to Iran, 500 to China, 100 to Yemen, 50 to Lebanon, 50 to Jordan, 750 to Syria, 500 to Nepal, 50 to South Korea, 50 to Somalia, 500 to Ethiopia, 1,000 to Afghanistan, 50 to Sudan and 50 to Turkey.