KUWAIT CITY, 5 April 2005 — Kuwait’s Parliament yesterday began cross-examining Health Minister Mohammed Al-Jarallah on allegations of ministerial negligence, and the misuse of power.
Two recent violent sexual attacks against women at a local hospital prompted MP Dhaifalla Buramia to launch the grilling against the minister who has held the health portfolio for the past five years.
Buramia presented his cross-examination points to a packed assembly. They included allegations of misuse of power, fiscal wrongdoing, negligence to ensure proper medical standards within state facilities, neglecting to rein in rampant illegal drug abuse at a state mental health facility, and ignoring a court ruling involving granting a license for a private health clinic.
Buramia opened the session by discussing the rape last month of a pregnant woman and the attempted rape of a female doctor at Farwaniya Hospital.
“Where was the security at the hospital? Where was the administration?” Buramia asked the minister. “These (hospitals) are supposed to be safe places. People come to the public hospital thinking they are going to be safe,” he added.
