Job Discussion Forums

greggie26 · Joined: 27 Sep 2006 Posts: 3

Hello Every1

I have been offered a contract in Kuwait. I did the medicals and discovered I have Hep B. The Kuwait embassy indicated I can get a visa.
I got conflicting reports that as soon one arrives they do medicals again and if you positive for a disease you will be deported. Is this true.
Can I still work in Kuwait with Hep B.

Thanks

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

I can confirm that you get tested as soon as you get there, but the only thing I was tested for was AIDS as far as I know, and there was a chest x-ray. It may depend on your employer.

VS

greggie26 · Joined: 27 Sep 2006 Posts: 3

Thanks VS,

How about saudi?

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

I don't know about Saudi, but from what I have heard, they check more things... you'd have to ask that on the Saudi board probably.

Is Hep B curable? If so, it would be best to get rid of it first, wouldn't it? Or will you forever test positive...

VS

Fred Bilbo · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 52 Location: Kuwait

As far as I know anyone with Hepatitis B is not allowed to work in Kuwait. I have heard of people failing their medicals for being Hepatitis B. Positive. Check with your would be employer, they should be able to give you a definitive answer.

Stephen Jones · Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Posts: 4124

The hepatitis B test is the HBantigen test. That is to say unlike Hepatitis C where the test is the antibody test, it proves that you actually have hepatitis B, and have a significantly high viral load. Hepatitis B is highly infectious; approximately one hundred times as infectious as Aids. Unlike Hepatitis C which is almost exclusively transmitted by blood transfusion, dialysis or sharing needles, it can be transmitted through the same bodily fluids as Aids (semen and saliva for example).

The two standard treatments are with interferon or lamivudine. The first treatment lasts for 16 weeks and has severe side effects; the second lasts for a year. The cost of either drug can easily run to thousands of dollars, though there are at least two generic interferons produced in India that should cost in the region of three or four hundred dollars a month. In the developed world however the more advanced drug peg-interferon is now used and that is still patented and therefore extremely expensive.

I do not know what the Kuwaiti policy regarding Hepatitis B sufferers is. It may well depend on your job and other factors, and you will probably find it difficult to get advance information. If you have the visa, and are unemployed try things out; you have little to lose. If you have an alternative take it, and try and get rid of the antigen, which as well as meaning you are cured will stop you having any further problems with medical tests.

One last thing. Hepatitis B is endemic in Saudi, and probably the rest of the Gulf amongst people over the age of twenty (the Saudis started routine vaccinations in primary schools in the early nineties so those under twenty are largely clear of the disease) and hits 15%+ amongst the population of areas such as Jizan. So anybody going anywhere in the Gulf should get vaccinated against hepatitis B either before they arrive or, probably more convenient, just after.

q8teacher · Joined: 06 Mar 2006 Posts: 23

At a past school I worked at, they brought in a teacher who had revealed she had Hepatitis but hadn't been effected by it for about 10 years and they put her on a plane back to America within a couple of days.

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

Of course, the big question is whether she had kept her mouth shut, would they have known?

ie... would they have tested her and would that have shown up?

VS

15yearsinQ8 · Joined: 17 Oct 2006 Posts: 462 Location: kuwait

they do do blood tests as part of your processing for a civl id

if it is contagious, like i think hepA is, i would say you can't work here
don't know for sure though

British Tutor Kuwait · Joined: 25 Nov 2005 Posts: 41 Location: Kuwait

One is not permitted to remain in Kuwait just to live with relatives or work after being found to have such.
People are requested to leave and not allowed to return on Visit Visas.
All sorts of things are looked for during the Medical Tests for Iqama/Residence, a Civil ID Card and the Health Card.
Medical Tests are strict here - their eye-test is not even a general one for vision - people allege they look for Dyslexia.

Stephen Jones · Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Posts: 4124

derinn · Joined: 10 Feb 2006 Posts: 2

007 · Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 9:43 pm Post subject:

Stephen Jones · Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Posts: 4124

Hepatitis A is highly contagious, as it is spread by food amongst other things. It can make you quite ill and can take up to six months to clear up.

Hepatitis B spreads in the same way as AIDS (that is blood or semen) except it spreads up to a hundred times more easily than AIDS. It used to be endemic in Saudi until they started vaccinating in primary school (I advise anybody coming to the Middle East to get vaccinated against hepatitis B).

Hepatitis C can only be spread by blood transfusion, contaminated dialysis machines or shared needles. That is to say it is a hospital borne disease. There are no known cases of it being spread through sexual fluids. Since they started screening for it for blood transfusions (1992-2005 depending on the country) the number of cases has dropped precipitously.

Most medical tests for Saudi check for all three, so you might find it difficult to get the visa in the first place.

[email protected] · Joined: 31 Oct 2009 Posts: 2

dear sir
being a patient of hepatitist-B,Shall I be able to go and WORK IN SINGAPORE, AUSTRALIA, MELESIYA,CANADA, UK, JAPAN,DUBAI AND AMERICA.

AN EARLY RESPONSE WOULD BE WIDELY APPRECIATED WITH THANKS.

Thanks[/quote]