Manama: Kuwait is to recruit Indian nurses only through government agencies, putting an end to a practice that had involved the private sector.
The decision was made following reports that Indian paramedics had to pay up to $7,000 in India to have their names on the list of those recruited to work in the country.
Dr Jamal Al Harbi, Assistant Undersecretary for Medical Support Service Affairs, told local daily Al Seyassah that he had held three meetings with the Indian ambassador to Kuwait Sunil Jain to discuss the issue of recruiting Indian nurses amid complaints that some private companies were imposing royalties on them.
Two government establishments in India were tasked with recruiting Indian nurses and sending them to work in Kuwait, leaving out the private companies that had been in charge of the operations, the daily added.
Representatives from the two establishments will visit Kuwait in April to meet the health minister and finalise the procedures.
According to Al Seyassah, Kuwait did not report problems with the recruitment of nurses from other countries.
The daily on March 10 said that there was a blatant abuse of nurses applying to work in Kuwait and that private companies were taking money from them to ensure they are recruited and they have long-running work contracts in Kuwait.
Kuwait, like fellow Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, rely heavily on skilled and relatively inexpensive paramedical teams from Asia, mainly India and the Philippines.
Recruiting agencies — real and bogus — have often been accused of taking advantage of the high number of applicants who want to work in the Gulf and of the lucrative offers from the GCC states to boost their profits.
