Kuwait Healthcare 101
Structure of the Healthcare
The healthcare system provides primary, secondary and tertiary care made possible by both public and private providers. Primary healthcare is offered through general or family health clinics, maternal and child care clinics, diabetic clinics, dental clinics, preventive care clinics, school health services, ambulance services, and police health services.
Secondary healthcare is available at six major hospitals including:
Sabah Hospital
Amiri Hospital
Adan Hospital
Farwaniya Hospital
Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital
Jahra Hospital.
Tertiary healthcare is made possible by specialized hospitals and clinics in centers including:
Obstetrics (delivery) Hospital for Maternity
Chest Hospital for Pulmonary Ailments
Psychiatric hospital for Mental Disorders
Ibn Sina hospital for Neurosurgery
Razi hospital for Burns
Kuwait Center for Allergies
Kuwait Cancer Control Center for Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment
Hearing Impairments Center for disorders connected with hearing
Hamed Al-Essa Transplant Center for Organ Transplants
Sulaibikhat hospital for Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation
Financing Healthcare
Kuwaitis and expatriates are covered by universal healthcare, under which Kuwaiti nationals have more extensive coverage. This gives them access to free health services and drugs on the "Circular 365 Drug List," while expatriates have to pay fees for non-emergency health services and state-subsidized drugs from a limited list. Due to this, most expatriates opt for private health insurance to compliment the limited coverage received under the government plan. They can attend private health facilities, but are obliged to use KHAC facilities for non-emergencies.
Kuwait has invested in twenty large scale mega healthcare projects that will be critical in the advancement of healthcare. The Ministry of Health, Amiri Diwan, Kuwait Health Assurance Company (KHAC), Kuwait University, Kuwait Oil Company, Ministry of Public Work, and Ministry of Interior will carry out majority of these projects in collaboration with PPPs.
Investment Opportunities
Lucrative opportunities to invest in Kuwait’s healthcare space include but are not limited to:
Pharmaceuticals Production and Markets
Medical Technology
Long Term Rehabilitation Centers
Start Ups & Technology
Many companies leverage emerging technologies to offer healthcare access to more people within a shorter time frame. These technologies include Digital Hospital, mHealth (Mobile Health), c-Health (Connected Health), Health 2.0, Data and Analytics, Digital Therapeutics, and Health Information Technology.
Notable startups leveraging these technologies include:
Tabeeby
Iclinic IO
Eclinika
Afya
Dowa
SurgeCare
Clinic89
Challenges
State-sponsored medical tourism has been costly for the Kuwait government and has sparked challenges including:
Limited bed capacity compared to the demand, especially in times of pandemic
The emergence of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, obesity, alcoholism, heart disease, smoking and drug addiction fostered by unhealthy lifestyles
The growing demand of pharmaceuticals resulting from growing medical needs
Solutions
The government is working on building more treatment facilities via the mega-health projects to increase the number of beds for patients.
The Kuwait National Development Plan 2035, launched by His Highness The Emir Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah, aims to advance medical technology and healthcare centers.
Wide screening campaigns will foster early disease detection to rally the population to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
The government has been granting permits to domestic manufacturers to produce pharmaceuticals in order to combat non-communicable diseases. The government needs to receive foreign investment to foster the production of breakthrough treatments, therapies, and medical drugs.