Welcome to the Kuwait Health Initiative’s page dedicated to health sector news and events. Up-to-date local, regional and international news will be available to KHI web site readers. Using current media reports, our team will address issues related to human rights violations, environmental problems, medical errors, health policy-making and administration, among others, and explain their effect on a population’s health.
Kuwait | Arab Times | Dec 26, 2007
Toxic gas kills 4 in Kuwaiti home
KUWAIT : The leakage of toxic gases from pesticides stored in the basement of the house in Abdullah Mubarak residential area killed two Kuwaiti children and two maids early in the morning Tuesday, Interior Ministry sources told the Arab Times. Four other Kuwaitis in the house who inhaled the toxic gas have been admitted to the hospital in critical condition. The house has been sealed to carry out forensic examinations, sources added. Acting Director of Farwaniya fire brigade Col Yousef Abdelmalak Al-Failkawi told the press that a chemical reaction of pesticides stored in a rented basement triggered off toxic vapors that permeated the floors above.
“As the windows and other ventilations were closed due to the cold weather, the vapors saturated the rooms where the victims were sleeping,” the colonel added. Such incidents occur when people do not abide by the safety conditions and regulations, he added, pointing out the basement did not have a license to be used as a storage facility. Among the children who died, one was a boy, aged 8 years, and a girl, aged just 2 months. One of the two dead maids was an Indian and other an Indonesian, the sources confirmed.
According to security sources the basement was leased to a major food company to store foodstuffs. However, the company stored pesticides around the foodstuff to prevent the foodstuff from going bad. The chemical reaction between the foodstuff and the pesticides reportedly triggered off the toxic fumes. According to sources one of the children who inhaled the fumes complained of stomach pain, but doctors at the Farwaniya Hospital, where the child was taken by the father, said such pain was normal due to the cold weather and was given medication as such.
Doctors at the hospital assured the father that everything would be fine and there was nothing to worry. After the family went to bed the father felt a strange odor. He rushed to check on his family and found his two children and two maids lifeless. He immediately informed the Operations Department of the Ministry of Interior. According to sources five houses in the perimeter where the incident took place have been evacuated as a precautionary measure. A special committee has been formed to investigate the incident.
By Valiya S. Sajjad and Abubakar A. Ibrahim
Kuwait | Arab Times | Apr 11, 2008
New fast food eateries in South Kuwait
KUWAIT CITY : The Kuwait Food Company (Americana) Tuesday opened the Americana fast food restaurant complex in the vicinity of Umm Al-Haiman Cooperative Society in a suburb of Ali Sabah Al-Salem comprising Hardee’s, Chicken Tikka, and Kruspy Kreme.
The new fast food two-floor complex was inaugurated by the board chairman and members of the Cooperative Society during a ceremony which was also attended by the elite and prominent personalities of the area, the press and young food enthusiasts.
Talking to the Arab Times board Chairman of the cooperative society Mohsen Sa’ad Al-Ajmi said it is an honor for the cooperative to house the fast food complex which has become one of the landmarks in the area.
Talking about the benefits of the complex to the society, Al-Ajmi said “the KFC, Hardee’s, Chicken Tikka and Kruspy Kreme are famous and unique fast food brands that offer the best and clean services and we expect them to do the same to our society. We are proud to have this type of food complex for the first time in the history of this area.”
Asked whether the complex will have any impact on the cooperative society, Al-Ajmi said to the contrary the board members are happy that the complex is near the society because it will not only bring in more customers for the cooperative, but also encourage the people of the area to visit the place.
General Manager of the new food complex Tamir Shahab told the Arab Times he is very happy at the opening of these restaurants in the area. With the opening of this branch Americana now has 63 branches of the franchise all over the country.
He expressed his gratitude to the administration of the Umm Al-Haiman Cooperative Society for helping to establish and inaugurate the food complex in this area.
The Kuwait Food Company (Americana) S.A.K. is a Kuwait-based company engaged in the manufacture, import and sale of foodstuffs and beverages by wholesale and retail, as well as owning a series of fast food restaurants in the State of Kuwait and other Middle East countries.
The Americana has 900 restaurants and cafes across 12 Arab countries with a number of international franchises, such as the KFC, Hardee’s, Chicken Tikka, T.G.I. Fridays, Grand Cafe, Costa, Baskin Robbins and Pizza Hut.
By Abubakar A. Ibrahim
Kuwait | ArabianBusiness.com | May 26, 2008
20% of firms in violation of labour laws
LABOUR CRACKDOWN: Almost 20% of all Kuwaiti private sector companies are in violation of labour laws for offences such as failing to pay workers and being physically abusive to staff, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour has revealed in a report.
A recent inspection of 3,775 companies by the government department revealed 668 workplace violations, including poor working conditions, unpaid salaries, fake work permits, theft and physical abuse, the Kuwait Times daily reported on Monday.
The report said the number of violations represented 17.7% of all private sector businesses.
The inspections found nearly 84% of firms (3,170) had failed to provide the proper protections to prevent work place accidents, and 32 companies did not provide basic work place protection gear including safety helmets.
More than 155 employers did not provide suitable accommodation for their staff and 177 labourers were working as beggars and car washers in violation of their work permits. Another 28 companies were not punctual in paying salaries to their employees.
According to the report, the Ministry of Labour started legal action against 278 firms for labour violations with the operations of one firm permanently stopped.
Expat workers, mainly from the Asian subcontinent, are estimated to account for 84.5% of the total labour force in Kuwait.
Earlier this week, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour said it was considering establishing a labour authority to measure the professional ability of labourers.
The authority would assess the labourer’s technical abilities and if he fails to prove competency, the employer of the labourer will be obliged to repatriate the labourer back to their home country.
By Amy Glass
nadeem said
RE: Toxic gas kills 4 in Kuwaiti home
This tragedy highlights many important faults in our system.
Based on the availability of pesticides in Kuwait (and of course not considering illegal substances), the life-threatening agents one must consider include aluminium phosphide, methyl bromide, or any of the organophosphates and carbamates. These are highly toxic compounds.
The first fault is the general lack of awareness. Our people do not understand or know of the dangers that they may be exposes to. This stems from the absence of public campaigns aimed at educating us on major health hazards and how to prevents events such as this particular one.
Secondly, it is the failure of the regulatory authorities to enforce or create proper regulations to avoid such scenarios. Our government needs to establish quality control measures in the form of regular auditing of manufacturers, storage facilities, and importers. Remediation must be firm and consequential.
Thirdly, as repeated examples have highlighted, our health care system has once again failed us. Our health care facilities, and emergency departments in particular, are considered to be the ultimate safety net. One fact that needs to be understood by all is that emergency physicians have a very different role than internists, general practitioners, or even surgeons. When someone presents complaining of abdominal pain, our job is not to think of what are the most common diagnoses and dismiss our patients, as it was done here, but instead we need to know what can kill them and work to rule those life-threats out first. Most of our emergency physicians are trained in these other specialties and have yet to let go of their inappropriate practices. Here’s another disaster you can add to a long list.
Don’t get me wrong, toxic exposures remain fairly common and occur in even the most prepared of nations. However, it is indeed the preparedness that makes the difference. The prompt recognition of the exposure, appropriate management, and rapid dispatch of health authorities to quarantine the premises are key elements in the prevention of poor outcomes.
Addendum:
Following this tragic event, many news agencies have published articles regarding the need to install smoke detectors to avoid such accidents. Every home needs to be equipped with smoke AND carbon monoxide detectors. No question. However, what must be clarified to avoid false reassurances is that toxins such as pesticides are not detected by those devices. It is only by avoiding the storage of those deadly agents that we’ll prevent catastrophes like this from happening.
abdulla alothman said
To Nadeem
I’ve been in Kuwait for almost 2 years now. You might find the below article, regarding the recent labour unrest over here, to be of interest
A comment on the recent labour unrest, by Abdulla Alothman
Anomalous behavior in the market place, is invariably the result of what Adam Smith once called the “hidden hand” – in this case, latex clad with the center digit extended – at work. Now, as anyone, at least anyone with an iota of intelligence, who has read the “Wealth of Nations” will have surmised, Adam Smith was a very perceptive, if at times – lengthy descriptions of pin factories and animal husbandry come to mind- rather tedious, individual.
Not being blessed with Mr Smith’s perspicacity and power of observation, I was nevertheless curious to discover for myself, through a process of reflection – that is without leaving my rather comfortable arm chair – whether an “invisible hand” was indeed at work and whether workers’ incredulity at governmental promises to address their concerns, were, at least probabilistically speaking, well founded. Here is what I conjecture:
Before implementation of proposed changes:
Number of Bangladeshi workers*: 240, 000
Amount government pays labour companies per head: About 100 – 120 KD (I will use 100KD)
Amount company pays Employees: 40 – “Deductions**” = 18 KD
Approx profit** – see ** below – = 60*240,000*12(months) =172, 800,000 KD or 640Million USD!!!
After implementation of proposed changes:
Profit per head = 100 – 40 (salary) – 22 (costs, currently been footed for by employees and which feel their companies should be footing) =38
Approx profit = 38*240,000(# workers)*12(#months) = 109,440,000
Difference:
Approx. 64m KD
Footnotes:
*I suspect that this number probably includes cleaners, hedge trimmers and of course the ever prevalent sleep deprived “security personnel” – Group 4 and Twaik International staff in their dilapidated TATA buses – making Kuwait a safer, if sightly more congested, place in which to live.
**Any and all overheads – including: transportation, renewal of work visa, the salary of supervisors preforming random attendance checks, any insurance, deodorants etc.
Analysis
Because the labour providing companies at the center of the disputes – i’e. those who have been”lucky” enough to have been awarded governmental contacts*- for “security”, “cleaning”, “landscaping”, “street maintenance” etc are controlled by certain families.
Because it seems reasonable to conjecture that these in turn- again, by virtue of their companies having been awarded* the contracts – are in close alliance with senior governmental officials.
Because, many of these same officials are the very ones issuing – albeit by proxy – the promises, which workers – perhaps because of the munificence (from 25 all the way upto 50 KD) of the offer – are having a hard time taking seriously.
And finally, because 64million KD is at stake.
I am tempted to conjecture the following:
1) That the workers are probably (at least with a high probability) right in their refusal to believe
2) That an invisible hand is indeed at work, and
3) That it will only be a matter of weeks ( the government being on vacation ’till after Ramadan) before that extended middle digit gets put to good use.
In summary:
It is buisiness as usual here in the Gulf.
*A Gulfie euphemism for distribution of oil largess through governmental patronage to selected families and individuals
.