688 Women Benefit From National Health Insurance Scheme in Week One

Doha, July 28 (QNA) - The National Health Insurance Company (NHIC) launched stage one of the National Health Insurance Scheme with a total of 688 Qatari females aged 12 upwards already receiving maternity, obstetrics, gynecology and related healthcare services from HMC Womens Hospital, Al Emadi Hospital, Al-Ahli Hospital and Doha Clinic Hospital. The scheme's network will be expanded to include Al Khor Hospital, Al Wakra Hospital, and the Cuban Hospital. General and specialist clinics will also be announced at later stages. Statistics for the first week (until 24th July), included admissions of 183 inpatients and 505 outpatients into participating hospitals and clinics. The NHIC also has information booths at each of the hospitals in the current network, to advise and educate Qatari women on the coverage and benefits of the scheme. Access to the scheme has been kept simple. All Qatari females age 12 and above are automatically enrolled in the scheme as a result of the joint work with the Ministry of Interior. All they need to do is show their Qatar ID to access services at their choice of provider from the network. "The first week of the National Health Insurance Scheme has been successful in terms of both, in- and outpatient admissions and we are encouraged by the fact that Qatari women are already taking advantage of greater choices when selecting their preferred provider for their maternity, obstetric and gynecological healthcare services," said Dr Faleh Mohamed Hussain Ali, acting CEO of the NHIC and Assistant Secretary General for Policy Affairs at the Supreme Council of Health (SCH). Husein Reka, Manager, Health Financing and Insurance at SCH added, "As the scheme gains in popularity, we will continue to expand the number of participating public and private sector hospitals and clinics and we look forward to confirming these soon. Meantime, our hotline and public education booths have helped boost The National Health Insurance Scheme is Qatar's mandatory health insurance programme designed to provide members access to the basic set of healthcare services through a choice of providers from both the public and private sectors. It is being rolled out in five successive stages until 2015, each one covering a larger group in Qatar including nationals, non-nationals and visitors. (QNA)