baseball markets Page 16 Page 9 THE FIRST ENGLISH LANGUAGE DAILY IN FREE KUWAIT Established in 1977 / www.arabtimesonline.com THURSDAY, AUGUST 12, 2021 / MUHARRAM 4, 1443 AH emergency number 112 NO. 17761 16 PAGES 150 FILS Young Kuwaiti girl fights COVID Delta Teen tells all ‘take care of yourselves’ KUWAIT CITY, Aug 11, (KUNA): Fourteen-year-old Ayat Al-Ma’atouq, one of she was transferred to the Jaber Hospital. the youngest Covid-19 patients in Kuwait, after a long suffering in an intensive care In childlike narrative, Ayat says seeing herself in the intensive care unit was like unit of the Jaber Hospital has recovered from the virus with determination to live a dream. “I thought that I had traveled to India with my father because he had prom- and spirit of defiance. This teen has overcome the nightmare after her infection with ised to take me there and I think at that time I was not fully conscious. a smile, innocence and life full of love. “Everything was like living a dream,” she says, “the pain of the devices con- Her childish advice to everyone is “take care of yourselves.” It was not easy for nected to my body and the tube that was in my mouth I suffered a lot … severe this child. She is expected to be discharged from the hospital soon and from her shortness of breath and the inability to chew food and inability to even drink water.” hospital bed she dispelled the fears with a charming smile as family members and After she was transferred to Jaber Hospital, she said, she received a lot attention medical staff looked on. and “it had a great impact on me as my health and my psychological well-being The ugliness of this disease is that it does not differentiate between the young and began to improve.” the elderly. When the virus was first detected in Kuwait, a baby girl was infected. Ayat thanks all the medical and nursing staff who have been very kind to her and Ayat told KUNA that she was infected with the Delta variant of the coronavirus helped her survive the ordeal. at the end of last June and she has a bitter memory of the suffering and her journey For his part, the head of the intensive care department at Al-Razi Hospital and su- towards recovery. She said during her stay in the hospital she was touched by the pervising her condition, Dr Hussein Al-Majadi, said that Ayat suffered from diabetes sound of babies crying. She also remembers a child crying after his parent suc- and her infection with the virus was severe. Her health began to deteriorate and respi- cumbed to the virus. ratory problems appeared quickly because of her young age, and certainly the psycho- Filled with emotion she says most of the time fear dominated her and that every- logical factor had a role in the setback of her health. For children, in addition to their thing that she looked at appeared black and gloomy. feeling of physical fatigue, the psychological factor causes them fear and anxiety. KUNA photo After a few days at the Al-Sabah Hospital, she says, she was transferred to inten- Fourteen-year-old Ayat Al-Ma’atouq with her father Youssef Al-Ma’atouq. sive care unit of Al-Razi Hospital and that her real journey of treatment began when Continued on Page 3 Opinion MP PROPOSAL TACKLES PARKING Has Kuwait become a factory of failure? Call to halve PCR test fee Is work safe? By Ahmed Al-Jarallah Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times TODAY, Kuwaitis are convinced more than ever that their cur- By Saeed Mahmoud Saleh rent government works only under popular or parliamentary pres- Arab Times Staff sure. This is a very sad matter, given that the role of the executive authority is to develop solutions to any problem that emerges or KUWAIT CITY, Aug might emerge. 11: MP Muhammad Unfortunately, since the beginning of the COVID-19 pan- Al-Hewaila has sub- demic, we have seen a lot of confusion that continues to mani- fest itself in various forms. It seems only the Almighty, and then mitted a proposal to the brains of the government, know when we will step on safe reduce the PCR test fee grounds out of the lobby where the unrealistic government deci- from KD 20 to KD 10. sions have led us. He disclosed the objective of It is paradoxical that a call from a former MP against an adver- the proposal is to alleviate the tisement on a belly dancing course could shake the pillars of the suffering of citizens and expa- Ministry of Commerce and Industry, which immediately moved triates who intend to travel, af- to close the club that released such an advertisement. Of course, firming that his proposal is in this cannot be done without the knowledge of the Prime Minister. accordance with the Constitution On the other hand, torturing Kuwaitis abroad and preventing which guarantees free health care them from entering their country, which is a constitutional taboo, and prevention services for citi- did not shake a single hair on the heads of offi cials. This is be- zens. cause the Minister of Health and the COVID-19 emergency com- In the meantime, MP Farz mittee decided not to annoy the owners of companies that import Al-Daihani forwarded queries certain vaccines imposed on us. to Minister of Commerce and Of course, with them are the admins of the apps being used Industry Abdullah Essa Al- which the committee decided not to allow the return of those who Salman about the legal basis of the decision on the resumption of were not vaccinated with any of those vaccines. KUNA photo Even those who were vaccinated abroad with the vaccines that The Kuwaiti firefighters participating to bring under control the fires in Turkey. regular working hours, 100 per- cent employees’ attendance, and are recognized in Kuwait are subjected to the worst indirect hu- implementation of the fingerprint miliation through their long and bitter wait of about a month or Kuwaiti team frontlines Turkey fi res attendance system. two for their vaccination certifi cates to be approved through the He requested for a copy of the “My Immunity” app. The Kuwaiti firefighting team, with all its equipment, contin- The Kuwaiti efforts were greatly welcomed by the Turk- study used as basis to issue such On the other hand, in other Gulf countries such as Saudi Ara- a decision, if any. He asked if it bia, the UAE and Bahrain, such certifi cates get approved imme- ues to participate in controlling the current situation in the ish government and people, praising the efficiency of the areas affected by forest fires in Turkey. Kuwaiti team’s performance and Kuwait’s standing by Tur- is dangerous to use fingerprint diately, and are accepted at their airports in printed form without The general coordinator of the team, Lt. Col. Abdullah key under the leadership of His Highness the Amir Sheikh devices and if these devices con- any complications. Al-Saleem said in a statement to KUNA that the Kuwaiti Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, and his lofty direc- tribute to increasing the number As for the “Kuwait Mosafer” app, it is still the biggest unre- firefighting team is in the state of Mugla and is currently co- tives. of COVID-19 cases. If yes, he solved obstacle, while its counterpart “Shlonak” app is more mis- ordinating with the Turkish Crisis and Emergency Depart- Some 45 Kuwaiti firefighters arrived in Tukey to join wants to know the rationale be- erable than the rest. ment to distribute tasks to help put out the fires. efforts to put out massive wildfires raging in coastal hind the abovementioned deci- In fact, these are small headlines for larger issues such as the He added that the Kuwaiti team will help the Turkish side towns. to put out the fires that have been burning for days and to At least eight people have been killed since fires started sion. If no, why did the authori- intended expulsion of entrepreneurs and owners of small and me- secure the residents of the areas there. in southern and southwestern Turkey on July 28. (KUNA) ties stopped the use of fingerprint dium enterprises, who were exhausted by the pandemic, and did devices at the beginning of the not fi nd a savior to rescue them. The government tells us every crisis? day that it needs someone to help it, something that renders en- He also inquired if the space in trepreneurs to take their projects to Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, public institutions is big enough Eastern European countries, and other destinations that provide Other Voices Newswatch to maintain social distancing them with the highest levels of investment security. upon resumption of the 100 per- Nonetheless, in our country, a former MP’s call can shut down cent attendance of employees, KUWAIT CITY: His Highness the Amir plan on the implementation of a project, the latest being the closure of the women’s health club, Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber while the Minister of Commerce and Industry did not bother to Your customs and traditions Al-Sabah received, at Bayan Palace health regulations including the investigate the matter, or look at what is broadcasted on televi- Wednesday, a letter from King Salman frequent sterilization of finger- sion about dancing in movies. Bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia. print devices, and steps that will Indeed, this makes us wonder how deep is the crisis in Kuwait, remind us of the ‘about-turn’ According to an Amiri Diwan state- be taken in case one or more em- which recorded the highest budget defi cit due to the absence of ment, His Highness the Amir was handed ployees gets infected with coro- plans to revive the economy.