The study calls for increasing fees collected for services that include medical checkups, surgeries, x-rays and others. “There is a belief within the ministry that the fees are currently inadequate to the quality of services given,” said the sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity. They added that a mechanism prepared for this project is set to be sent to Health Minister Mohammad Al-Haifi “before he refers it to the Cabinet to be enforced”. The sources did not provide a timeline for when the referral might happen, or when the study is going to be finished.
In other news, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor is set to study a memo to allow domestic workers to transfer their visas to the private sector (Article 18) as long as the same employer is retained. According to sources with knowledge of the case, the memorandum was recently finalized by the labor department in the ministry, which then sent it to the ministry’s council of undersecretaries to study it in its meeting next week. If approved, the decision will go into effect on April 1, the sources added.
