The Saudi health ministry has finalized a scheme for an Islamic form of medical insurance to be imposed on some seven million foreigners in the kingdom, Health Minister Osama Shobokshi said in remarks published Thursday, September 6.
Shobokshi told Al-Riyadh daily the scheme has been sent to higher authorities for approval after completion of its financial and executive charters.
The scheme will be mandatory for foreigners living and working in the oil-rich kingdom, but optional for Saudi nationals, the minister added. Employers will be required to pay the "bulk" of the premium for the scheme, which will be based on a "cooperative Islamic system" aimed at helping the poor, Shobokshi said.
Most members of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which groups Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, impose mandatory health insurance on foreign workers.
Only foreign civil servants and housemaids are entitled to receive medical treatment at Saudi public hospitals, while other foreigners must go to the private sector. — (AFP, Riyadh)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
