the aim of the public authority for applied education and training (paaet) is to supply trained kuwaiti manpower to meet the needs of the country, not only in technical and professional fields but various others to achieve progress and prosperity. one of the objectives of the authority is to make young kuwaitis the hope of the future on whom the country can rely and enable these young men to compete with the expatriates in all fields of services and production and be responsible for the economic and social progress of the country. this objective is included in the home page of paaet posted on the internet. however this objective remains mere words because nothing concrete has been evidenced on the ground of reality for the past half a century. paaet is considered one of the biggest failures among the government institutions. from the educational point of view it is a total disaster and the administration is full of corrupt people who have ‘wasted’ hundreds of millions of dinars without succeeding in achieving any of its objectives. the institute of nursing which is an example of one of the failures was inaugurated in 1962 under the name of the college of nursing and affiliated to the ministry of health. it was under the supervision of the ministry of education before it was handed over to paaet in 1988. this institute of nursing or college did not succeed over half a century in providing either male or female nurses needed by the state. it is rare to find a kuwaiti nurse. joining the institute was just a way to graduate after a short period and earn handsome salary until a lawmaker, for instance, intervenes and moves the nurse to the administrative work. therefore, it was surprising that the chairman of the nursing society threatened the ministry that the nurses will go on strike if their demands were not met – two days off a week. neither the nursing administration nor the minister of health was fair and things remained vague. the chairman demanded the appointment of a full time dedicated undersecretary for nursing affairs after the number of nurses reached 25,000. he also called on the ministry to solve their problems and be just. he also requested the council of ministers that nurses are treated equal to kuwaiti doctors and to exempt them from the fingerprint attendance system which was demanded in its new decision by the civil service commission and expected to be implemented from october 2017. in fact, it is difficult not to sympathize with the demands of the nursing society, but where are the kuwaiti male and female nurses? why do we still see nurses from india who reportedly pay up to 10,000 dinars each to get a job in kuwait? it is a well known fact that tens of thousands have been appointed in the ministry through the corrupt system (through middlemen) and everyone who works in the ministry of health knows the truth about this system which is being practiced over several years. the reason is that the indian nurse pays this amount willingly because the salary, for three years, for example, is about forty thousand dinars, in addition to that they receive training in hospitals, most of which automatically qualify for jobs in hospitals in europe and america. the issue has caused a silent crisis between the governments of india and kuwait. the axis of corruption revolves around a former health minister. i conclude by saying we are with the decision of the society to call for a strike if the demands of the kuwaiti nurses are not met, but we ask a question: where is the kuwaiti nurse.

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