Massage parlours are considered to be seedy joints by a lot of people, since many of them got a reputation for offering a “happy ending” to their male clients.

That is why Kuwait has put its foot down and ordered massage parlours across the country to comply by a new rule, which requires them to remove doors to all massage rooms or risk being shut down completely.

Parlours have one week to comply by the new rule, which was supposed to come into effect on 1 October, according to Gulf News.

However, following a field inspection in the Salmiya and Hawalli areas on Monday evening, inspectors found that the majority of parlours did not comply, prompting the government to extend the deadline by one week, Kuwaiti daily Al Rai reported on Tuesday.

The representative of the municipality on the morals inspection team, Zaid Al Enezi, said that "All the cases were related to the failure to remove the doors to the rooms."

"They were warned that non-compliance with the rules would mean shutting down the parlour immediately and without hesitation. There are many unethical practices behind closed rooms that should be addressed.

"We found various kinds of makeup that are normally used by women. We were also shocked that most of the clients were young men less than 18 years old."

Young men undercover will be sent to the parlours posing as customers to see if anything fishy will happen.

But Al Enezi said that it is also clients’ duty to report incidents of indecent behaviour, should they witness any during their visits to massage parlours.

The morals committee is made up of representatives from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Interior and Kuwait Municipality.

While keeping tabs on massage parlours is a good idea, the new rule will strip clients away from their privacy and a proper relaxation session.