Domestic workers in Oman to get health cover

Domestic workers in the Sultanate will also be covered under the mandatory health insurance scheme being rolled out for private sector employees.

This was confirmed by Ahmed Ali Al Mamari, Vice President for Insurance Sector, Capital Market Authority (CMA) during a meeting as part of the campaign for the launch of   Standard Health Insurance Policy.

“A special insurance policy will be issued for domestic workers to provide them with appropriate health care with regard to cost and quality”, the vice-president said.

Although he did not divulge more details about the policy, the indication is that it will be launched in line with the unified Standard Health Insurance Policy branded as ‘Dhamani’.

He said that the government’s policy is to implement the scheme to provide health care for the national and expatriate workforce in line with the advanced medical technology.

“This will be implemented through a partnership with the private sector to furnish an integrated system regulating the relationship between the parties involved in the health insurance represented by the employers, insurance companies, private health services and the beneficiaries”, Al Mamari said.

According to data from National centre for Statistics and Information, the number of household workers doing different jobs stood at 215,149 at the end of February this year.

This includes 157,854 females and 57,295 male workers.

According to Al Mamari, Dhamani would contribute to improvement in the private health sector through the expected demand.

“We expect the entry of more quality private health institutions with regard to competent medical carders and treatment systems, which would contribute to the expansion of the health services in Oman”, he said.

This will also help limit seeking treatment abroad and, will on the other hand, enhance medical tourism in the country with the accompanying economic returns, he opined.

The CMA has already prepared a set of guidelines to ensure sound and successful implementation of the scheme in the Sultanate with an aim to ensure appropriate health coverage for the workers.

Beneficiaries of Dhamani will get basic health care namely inpatient services, emergency and treatment of basic illnesses in addition to prescribed medicines by ministry of health licensed doctor.

This article originally appeared on: http://www.omanobserver.om/domestic-workers-to-get-health-cover/