Saudi Arabia- Expats criticize medical insurance program 

(MENAFN - Arab News) Thousands of foreign workers in villages and hamlets are complaining they cannot benefit from health insurance due to a lack of local hospitals and health facilities.

Trading and industrial companies which have criticized a new Health Ministry initiative requiring SR1,000 to be paid for each employee's health insurance, have supported their claims.

"The ministry's decision did not consider laborers in remote areas of the country where villages and hamlets have not been supplied with medical facilities," sources said.

They described the decision to initiate the health insurance program as hasty. Luai Qinaitah, owner of an industrial project in Taif, said he was not warned and had no time to prepare following the ministry's announcement. "This has led to chaos and confusion," he added.

He added companies in remote areas often do not have insurance offices near them.

Qinaitah said insurance providers would not give policies to companies with less than 25 employees for SR1,000 per head, despite many of them being small businesses.

"Insurance should be made to all workers registered at the Passport Department regardless of their number (at their company) and at a nominal fee," he said.

A number of foreign workers also complained about the lengthy delay in obtaining a health insurance certificate. "It may take a week or longer to finish the procedures for health insurance. You will also have to provide proof of commercial registration, a computer printout from the Passport Department and an application saved on a CD," they said.

The spokesman of the Health Affairs Department in Taif Sarhan Al-Humaidan defended the decision to make health insurance obligatory for all workers and said it ensures an employee's right to medical treatment.

"Through this insurance, laborers in all parts of the Kingdom will have the right to medical treatment at government hospitals. The laborers working in remote areas can be referred to general hospitals in the nearest city to them," he said.

By Tariq Al-Ali