7.5m expatriates treated in Kuwait in 2017

Ministry of Health says 21 million patients were treated in 2017, 64% of whom were Kuwaiti citizens and the remaining 36% are expatriates. Expatriate statistics however should not be interpreted as medical tourist numbers.

According to the Ministry of Health, the number of medical centres in Kuwait is 104, and these registered a total of 21 million patients in 2017.

There are 12 private hospitals with 1,082 beds in total, plus hospitals of the Ministry of Health and three hospitals belonging to the oil sector.

64% of the patients are Kuwaiti citizens and the remaining 36% are expatriates.

These expatriate figures tend to be translated as international patients, and then misinterpreted as medical tourist numbers. Many people make the mistake of equating “international patients” with “medical tourists” (see ‘The magic of medical tourism numbers’)

Kuwait has a population estimated at 4.1 million in 2016. The 3.1 million expatriates account for 70% of Kuwait’s population, including 1.1 million Arab expatriates and 1.4 million Asian expatriates.

This figure could be cut down in the future as the government has a ‘Kuwaitization plan’ to reduce the number of expats and increase employment among nationals.

View the IMTJ Country report for further analysis of medical tourism in Kuwait.