Calls for Northern Emirates to get health cover

RAS AL KHAIMAH // Everyone in the country will get access to health insurance soon, according to a top Ministry of Health official. 
The promise comes as residents and doctors in the Northern Emirates renew calls for universal coverage as the introduction of mandatory health insurance gathers pace in Dubai.
A federal law for mandatory insurance for workers across the country was drafted last year, after similar draft laws were considered in 2004 and 2007, but has yet to be realised. 
"The plan to get insurance to the Northern Emirates is being processed but it takes time," said Dr Amin Hussain Al Amiri, assistant undersecretary for Medical Practices and Licensing at the Ministry of Health.
"The goal is 100 per cent coverage for all inhabitants.
"Abu Dhabi has mandatory insurance. Dubai is in the process of getting it and maybe Northern Emirates will have it in the near future."
Medical professionals say every resident - be that expatriate or Emirati - should benefit from full insurance and have called for mandatory health insurance to be extended across the country.
"There is no mandatory health insurance in the Northern Emirates," said Dr PK Menon, the director and research professor at the Centre for Advanced Biomedical Research and Innovation, at the Gulf Medical University, Ajman.
"The people who are lower down the rung are the ones who don't have insurance though they really need it. Even if we try to subsidise prices for them the cost of health care here is still too expensive."
The Abu Dhabi Government introduced mandatory health care for all workers in 2006. In Dubai, a similar - and long-awaited - scheme is finally coming to fruition.
However, as yet, there is no universal health cover for those living in the Northern Emirates. 
"Having insurance across the board will really help enhance the quality of care and people's access to health care," said Dr Menon, an Indian expatriate.
"If we have affordable, really high-quality facilities and health care covered by insurance then we can take medical care to the next level. It will ensure the overall quality improves."
Mother-of-two Hanan Obaid, 37, is married to a police officer in Ras Al Khaimah and the family does not have health insurance provided them by her husband's employers.
Her son suffered complications after being born underweight, she said. Having insurance would mean better access to care.  
"Health insurance is an often discussed issue here. It's very hard for us. They have been giving us hope for a long time that insurance will come but there has been nothing."
Tawfik Khoja, the director general of the council of health ministers for the GCC, agreed universal insurance coverage was needed.
"Universal health coverage has been an issue in the last few years and healthcare providers need to take the community's needs into account," he said.
Dr Hillol Kanti Pal, an Indian expatriate and managing director at RAK Hospital, said: "If Dubai is now becoming 100 per cent covered in insurance ... maybe the next in line will be the Northern Emirates."
 Dr Mona Al Bahar, an FNC member from Dubai, said emphasis needed to be put on improving health care in general, rather than just homing in on insurance. "We already have the infrastructure. We need to improve the services. Insurance also has limitations and not everything is covered."
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