Page 131 - Historical Summaries (Persian Gulf - Vol II) 1907-1953

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to the general public. In 1934 the Kuwait Government engaged the services of a
Syrian doctor and after the war they started to build a State hospital which was
completed and opened in 1949. In that year the Ruler appointed a British Chief
Medical Officer, and since then a number of British doctors together with a British
matron and nurses have been engaged. A highly efficient medical service now exists
and all treatment is free. In view of the development by the State of its own
medical service the Agency Dispensary was closed in 1949 and in 1951 the
appointment of Agency surgeon was abolished. The Agency staff are now provided
with medical treatment free of charge by the Kuwait Government, but Mis Majesty’s
Government make an annual donation of Rs. 1,000 to the Kuwait “ Hospital poor
box.’T”)
213. Until 1951 the functions of Quarantine Medical Officer at Kuwait were
performed by the Agency Surgeon under the supervision of the Chief Quarantine
Medical Officer at the Political Residency. In 1949 the Ruler agreed to meet the
cost of the quarantine administration and at the end of 1950 he agreed to take it
over. He accepted the principles which His Majesty’s Government had laid down
with regard to free service, compliance with International Sanitary Regulations
and supervisory control by His Majesty’s Government^474) The transfer was
effected in March 1951 and in June of the same year the Chief Quarantine Medical
Officer reported that the Kuwait Government were maintaining an adequate and
satisfactory quarantine service and that they had taken material steps to improve
the organisation.(47a)

(/) Nationality and Passports
214. In 1933 the Iraqi Government asked to be informed of the date on which
the Kuwaiti and Bahraini nationalities were constituted.(,7°) A reply was eventually
given to them, so far as Kuwait was concerned, in 1938, when the Iraqi Foreign
Minister had argued that Kuwait stood in relation to Iraq in the same position as
it had previously stood in relation to the Ottoman Empire, as follows: —
“ The Shaikhdom of Kuwait was for a considerable period in an anomalous
state of semi-dependence on the Ottoman Empire; His Majesty’s Government
have nevertheless been in treaty relations with the Shaikhs since 1841 (4,T) and
Kuwait finally became completely independent of Turkey and Kuwaiti
nationality finally came into existence on the same date as Iraq and Iraqi
nationality.”*478)
This date appears to have been purposely left vague but cannot have been later
than that of the ratification of the Treaty of Lausanne, viz., August 6, 1924. Legal
opinion was that the moment when Iraq began to have an independent existence
could not be placed earlier than 1922.(‘79)
215. In 1948 the Ruler issued a Nationality Law. His Majesty’s Government
suggested one amendment,(48°) which was accepted and incorporated in the law in
1952 (Appendix R).
216. The Ruler has issued his own passports since 1936.A request from
the Kuwait Government for the printing of passports in London in 1951 led to the
preparation by the Richmond Herald of a design for a Coat of Arms for the
Ruler(482) which involved the standardisation of the Kuwait flag. The design was
approved by the Ruler but work on the Coat of Arms had not been completed by the
end of 1953 nor had the flag been finally standardised. There is no Kuwait passport
law but all passport and immigration matters are dealt with by the Public Security
Department. In 1949 the Head of the Department issued a notification obliging
foreigners visiting or residing in Kuwait to register (Appendix S). Nationals of
the other Gulf Shaikhdoms, but not of Muscat, and of Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the
(47>) F.O. to P.R. XS 10/91 K2/151 of February 12. 1951.
(474) P.R. to F.O. 14/26/50 of October 19. 1950 (XS 10/91 K2/250 of 1950).
(47>) P.R. to F.O. Despatch 80 of June 12. 1951 (EA 1795/1 of 1951).
(47‘) Bagdad to F.O. Despatch 736 of November 23. 1933 (E 7589/7589/91 of 1933).
(4rT) In 1841 Kuwait adhered to the Maritime Truce for one year vide p. 202 Aitchison. Vol. Ai.
(«7«) Bagdad to F.O. Despatch 491 of October 6. 1938 (E 6185/13/91 of 1938).
(47») (E 2499/13/91 of 1938).
(4,#) FO. to P.R. EA 1601/1 of December 22, 1951.
(«•«• IO to F.O. P.Z. 6672/36 of September 25. 1936 (T 14551/3127/378 of 1936).
(4”j Kuwait to F.O. 218/18/52 of May 27. 1952 (EA 1622/11 of 1952).