Shura councilHealth insurance on the way [Archives:2004/726/Health]

By Fahmia AL-Fotih
For Yemen Times
The idea of health insurance has been established for 15 years and the competition was between the Health Ministry and the Social Affairs Ministry to adopt and implement the idea. They settled that the Ministry of Social Affairs would take care of the project. However, the project of health insurance did not see the light for a number of reasons and the lack of human resources, funds and experience of the employees of the Ministry of Social Affairs then.
Nowadays, the Al-Shura Council, headed by Mr. Abdualaziz Abdualghani, the Chairman of the Council, started on 22 March discussion of health insurance report that was prepared by the Committee of Health and Population at the Council.
The members of the Council listened to the report presented by the Head of the Health and Population Committee, which explained the necessity of implementing the health insurance system in Yemen to ensure developed health services for all the members of the society.
The report also pointed to the importance of health insurance socially and its advantages and merits in improving the quality of health services and deepening the concept of partnership between the state and the citizen.
Moreover, the report mentioned the successes that have been achieved in the medical field through the past two decades due to the attention that President Ali Abduallah Saleh has paid to the health sector.
The report further revealed in the attached charts and tables how much the government pays to the health sector in Yemen and the number of the qualified medical cadre, as well as the specialists who work in this field. It showed also how much the government spends on medical projects spread over different governorates in addition to the providing primary instruments and devices to offer excellent medical services to citizens.
The report pointed to the importance of the health insurance in Yemen due to the speedy changes that the society has witnessed, besides the increasing population growth and grounding on the constitutional items that stress that education, health and social services are essential elements to build the society and provide for its development, and that government and society should take part in providing them.
The report indicated that the insurance system should be applied gradually due to the capabilities and capacities of citizens.
Moreover, the report mentioned the steps that governmental and concerned bodies had taken to pave the way to the health insurance project to meet the plan of medical development, as well as the treaties that emerged from the national conferences, workshops and consulting meetings.
The recommendations of the report stressed the importance of quickly ratifying the health and social insurance proposals to offer services with standard conditions and levels.
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