Health ministry has conducted a study to review some health service fees to make them conform to their actual cost and which are affordable by expats, Al-Anbaa daily reported.

The daily quoting sources reported that the ministry is about to issue a decision to increase health service fees for expats, which will go into effect soon. The sources said the increase is inevitable, but will not be more than the charges collected in the private sector, and could be 20 percent lower.

Sources said the new health service fees will be imposed in the very near future because it is difficult to keep government health service fees as they are, as they are not compatible with the true cost of the services provided, and especially since the current fees being collected from expats are far lower than those in the private sector. Sources said some treatment will be for free, including emergency and accident cases. Nuclear medicine will be 50 percent cheaper because it is not available in the private sector.