Kuwaiti authorities have decreed that management of private pharmacies must be limited to Kuwaitis with licenses to practice the profession, a local newspaper reported. In order to regulate private pharmacies, Kuwaiti Health Minister Khalid Al Saeed has decreed.

Al Rai said pharmacies have three months to readjust their status. Violators will face unspecified legal action.

In another ministerial decree, applications for pharmacist licences for non-Kuwaitis and new private pharmacies were suspended.

In the paper, it was noted that the suspicion would remain in place until the results of a related study were released.

Non-Kuwaiti managers of pharmacies and foreign pharmacists are unknown.

In the wake of the COVID-19, Kuwait seeks to correct its demographic imbalance.

Kuwait's economy has suffered as a result of the pandemic, with increasing calls for curbing foreign employment and accusations that migrant workers are straining infrastructure facilities.