AIDS Sufferers Slip in with Visa Traders

KUWAIT CITY, May 11: The issue of visa trading recently took a dramatic turn after Ministry of Health discovered that more than 100 AIDS victims managed to come to Kuwait from India, medical sources say.

They explained that Ministry of Health discovered the cases while conducting medical examinations on expatriates who came to Kuwait in the last three months.

The general department for medical examination of expatriates immediately sent a report in this regard to the Assistant Undersecretary for General Health

Affairs Majeda Al-Qattan who ordered an investigation to be opened for identifying those responsible for allowing the infected expatriates to enter the country and for taking necessary legal action against them.

The sources indicated that the growing number of patients suffering from such diseases have created fear among the employees who examine expatriates, of getting infected when dealing with the patients. They lamented that visa traders follow illegal ways for bringing expatriates who suffer from infectious diseases such as AIDS to Kuwait for which they pay KD 5,000 or more to medium-level enterprises for sending fake documents to the homelands of expatriates.

The sources said majority of visa traders are aware that many of the expatriates they help in bringing to Kuwait suffer from infectious diseases and can never pass the medical tests but they insist on bringing those expatriates in order to earn large amounts of money.

The visa traders also know that the fi ne for referring an expatriate who suffers from an infectious disease is just KD 500 due to which they do not pay much attention to this matter. The sources insisted that the concerned authorities must not neglect this matter as it represents a serious threat to the society.

By Marwa Al-Bahrawi Al-Seyassah Staff

(Source: ArabTimesOnline.com)