DOHA: More than 11,500 citizens benefited from the national health insurance scheme — Seha — over the first one week after the launch of its second phase on April 30, a senior official of National Health Insurance Company (NHIC) has said.
Seha in its second phase provides insurance cover to all citizens for their basic health needs.
An average 2,500 citizens benefited daily since the launch of the second phase, covering 11,578 Qataris in the first week, Qatar News Agency quoted Dr Faleh Mohamed Hussain Ali, acting CEO, as saying. He said several new healthcare providers have applied to join the scheme. Currently, four public and three private hospitals, nine private clinics and six branches of Magrabi Opticals have been included in the scheme.
“We are getting several applications daily and a special committee is evaluating how much the facilities concerned have fulfilled the requirements. We respond to the requests in four days after we receive them,” said Dr Ali.
He added that NHIC had received 30 new applications until the end of last week, besides those received during the first phase of the scheme. He said the second phase covers all basic health services and dental care will be added next month. This, however, will not include cosmetic treatment. A full list of dental services covered under the scheme will be issued very soon, he said.
He said physiotherapy centres will be able to join Seha in the near future to provide citizens with quality service close to their homes.
However, patients seeking services should have to be referred by the physician concerned or a primary health centre.
He said Seha will soon launch a second survey to assess patient satisfaction with the scheme and the performance of healthcare providers. An overwhelming majority of Qatari females, who benefited from the scheme in the first phase, had expressed satisfaction with the scheme.
Most enquiries and complaints from citizens after the launch of the second phase were related to the type of services covered by the scheme and the method of functioning of the health insurance system.
Dr Ali said NHIC had completed a plan to provide information about the health needs of the population in each area, nature of diseases and places where healthcare facilities are available according to specialisation.
He said NHIC had been conducting field visits to assess the services provided by facilities that are members of Seha. No violation has been detected until now. “We are seeking feedback from beneficiaries. They should inform us if they are not satisfied with the services.”
In future, beneficiaries will get a text message with details about the type of the service and treatment they are supposed to receive and urging them to lodge a complaint if they are not satisfied with the service.
He said NHIC will not force any health service provider to join the scheme, and if they have any problem with the prices they can seek clarification before signing the agreement.
He said a referral system will be strictly implemented under Seha, in which a referral from a primary health facility will be mandatory to see a specialist or consultant.
The Peninsul
