The Kuwaiti Ministry of Health (MOH) has suspended the salaries of doctors, technicians and administrators who are stranded abroad and whose vacation days have expired while outside Kuwait, Al Jarida newspaper reported on Monday.

The newspaper, quoting health sources, said that there are thousands of health workers who left the country in February but are unable to return as flights and airports were suspended mid-March to tackle the spread of the new coronavirus. It is also because certain countries were placed on a ban list from where expats can’t enter due to coronavirus health conditions.

More than 1,000 health personnel, who are employed as doctors, nurse, radiology technicians and laboratory staff were stranded abroad, most of them from India,

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) announced in last July that expats and their first degree relatives will be allowed to enter Kuwait via Kuwait International Airport as long as they are under the sponsorship of Ministry of Health (MoH) even if their residency visas had expired.