The Supreme Council of Health ( SCH ) has reiterated that the health insurance law is all set to be implemented by year-end making it mandatory for all employers to cover health risks of workers.
Once the proposed legislation is in force the problem of private healthcare services being exorbitantly expensive and being out of reach of the common man would be addressed, Al Sharq said yesterday.
The aim of the said law is to ensure that quality health services are available to the people at affordable rates.
The SCH had announced early last May that the draft law was ready and once implemented will cover citizens, residents (expatriates) as well as visitors. Once the insurance scheme is in place basic medical services will be provided to all while it will be up to employers to make specialized services available to their workers.
The proposed legislation is to be enforced in phases, he last phase set to be put into force by the end of 2014. The idea is to actually make private healthcare services which are quite expensive, available to the common man at affordable rates.
The draft of the law was being prepared in close consultations with various stakeholders and they included the public healthcare sector as well as insurance providers, private medial facilities and above all, the public representative body Central Municipal Council (CMC).
The Peninsula
7 November