Muhammad Dawood and Adil Babkair

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH – A large number of government employees and their families need to have medical insurance, according to professor Reda Muhammad Khalil, an health insurance expert.



Khalil believes the only way through which insurance services can be provided to public sector employees is by setting up a national non-profit health services fund run by the government.



Medical insurance for citizens is important due to two reasons. First, it will improve healthcare services provided by private sector medical institutions. Second, it will reduce pressure on public hospitals where patients have to wait for a long time to get access to specialist care.



Tawfiq Ahmad Khoja, director of executive health office for Gulf Cooperation Countries, agreed that it is important that all government employees get health insurance coverage. He said the majority of them do not have such insurance.



“There is no doubt that having such insurance will enhance the quality of medical services provided to citizens while at the same time will help save a lot of public money spent on the health sector,” Khoja said.



By introducing health insurance for government employees and their dependents, he said, the government would save an estimated SR38 billion from its annual budget.



Abdul Elah Al-Saaty, dean of business school at King Abdulaziz University, called for setting up a national commission for medical insurance supervised by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA).



Al-Saaty, who is also an expert on health insurance, noted that the Saudi population has been increasing rapidly and the government's healthcare bill will witness a corresponding increase.



Okaz/Saudi Gazette met several citizens and government employees for their opinion about this important issue. They all agreed employees in the public sector should have medical insurance because private-sector hospitals and polyclinics charge huge amounts for their services. They said the employees are more prone than others to medical problems because of the nature of their jobs.



Abdul Raheem Al-Thebaiti, a government employee, said many employees end up paying huge medical bills at private hospitals to avoid long waiting lists at public hospitals.



“Insurance will take off a large part of the financial burden off employees’ chests,” Al-Thebaiti said.



Suzan Shamlan, a college student, believes that public sector personnel exert great efforts to serve the country and therefore they should be given priority when it comes to health coverage.



Her colleague Emtinan Al-Sulaimani said such insurance will reduce the pressure on public hospitals and allow them to provide more efficient and exquisite services to the general public.