| Kippreport.com

Kuwait: MPs urge government to delay first day of school

August 25, 2009 11:40 by Dana El Baltaji

MPs stepped up pressure on the government yesterday to delay reopening schools or at least part of them after the health ministry announced that a 17-year-old Kuwaiti teenager became the third casualty of swine flu.

The ministry of health said the boy died because he was suffering of respiratory inflammation and he also was overweight. He died after staying several days at the hospital.
The health ministry reported the first swine flu death on Wednesday and the second was reported on Saturday for a pregnant woman. Health officials had said on Sunday that eight swine flu patients were in critical conditions at intensive care units in various hospitals.

The latest death and the large number of A (H1N1) cases reported especially in the past few weeks has raised fears that the disease could spread easily among students when schools reopen after the holy month of Ramadan.
At least two MPs yesterday called on the government to delay the start of the academic year. MP Ali Al-Rashed said the education ministry should at least delay the reopening of the kindergarten stage since the swine flu spreads more quickly among children under five years of age.

MP Faisal Al-Muslim said the ministry of education should review the reopening date of the schools because of the gravity of the situation and after the sharp increase in swine flu cases in Kuwait in the past few weeks.

Kuwait Times

Tags: death, delay, Kuwait, school first day, swine flu