Kuwait’s Health Minister Sheikh Dr Basel Al-Sabah has pointed out alleged violations and corruptions regarding the appointment of Indian nurses within the ministry to the public prosecution for legal investigations according to a report by the Kuwait Times.
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In a tweet shared by MP Rakan Al-Nasaf, he posed the question to the health minister regarding the suspected violations in the appointment of the involved Indian professionals, and shared that the minister had responded that the case has already been raised to the public prosecution.
Public Prosecution Reviews Hiring of Indian Nurses in Kuwait
The case was first brought into the attention of the cabinet during an interrogation of a former health minister.The issue pointed out that hundreds of Indian nurses were appointed in the ministry after senior ministry officials and several middlemen have received a large amount of bribes.
A court decision laying down the procedures for the possible trial of former health minister Ali Al-Obaidi and several former top officials over the alleged violations has started last week.
Back in August this year, the case of around 80 Indian nurses who have been promised jobs in the Gulf State but were stuck in the country for over two years without work due to paperwork issues and red tape has been cited in the issue involving the former health minister.
The group of Indian nurses has been recruited by former health ministry officials, and was placed in government housing, but were unable to work because their licensing and certifications have been confiscated.
According to the nurses involved, the problem was a case of corruption in the recruitment process. The positions allotted for the 80 nurses were taken over by a different batch of nurses recruited from Dubai.
Back in 2015, the Indian government banned the recruitment of nurses through private agencies in a bid to eliminate the collection of massive fees and corruption involved in the process. Following this decision, the Indian government has established six official recruitment agencies that will handle the recruitment of nurses for Kuwait.
Meanwhile, some private agencies coursed their recruitment through Dubai. And while this process has not been recognized by both the Indian and Kuwaiti governments, nurses recruited in this process still bagged jobs in Kuwait.