Insurance best solution to meet treatment expenses: Expert

Muscat: The move to allocate government doctors to work in private health institutions after official working hours for a fee was aimed at reducing the number of Omanis going abroad for treatment, said Dr. Deena al Asfour, a public health expert. She said, “Citizens who go abroad for treatment are divided into two categories - one who goes voluntarily for periodic examination and as medical tourism, while others are forced to for a specific treatment. Yet, there are no studies which show the percentage of patients who go abroad for treatment on an emergency basis, but it seems that there are many who do it”. Dr. Deena said, “From my point of view as an expert, there are many examples of financing health services without charging citizens. The problem is when you ask a sick person to pay money for the service when he needs treatment, it may put the patient in financial difficulty. We know of many cases of expatriates remaining in the hospitals due to their inability to pay medical expenses, so I do not agree with making the ill pay.” The best solution is to provide social health insurance for all individuals by deducting an amount commensurate with the income of each individual, excluding the lowest income groups. She also recommended that private or government health institutions operate in harmony by providing services to each person, either a citizen or an expatriate, holding an insurance card. This also applies to primary healthcare centers. “We do not need new buildings, but rather we need to improve the quality of services and make all services reach the citizen near his home,” she asserted, confirming that in the case of a partnership between the public and private sectors, contracts should be made with private companies to provide a specific service to a specific region for long periods so that a fixed and reduced price is negotiated for a period of 20 or 30 years. This comes after Ali al Lawati, CEO of Company Affairs at Towell Group, proposed to transfer public health providers to private ones in exchange for money, after officials working hours, during a radio interview. Al Lawati mentioned that statistics show that thousands of citizens travel abroad for medical purposes spending around RO 3 billion. According to Al Lawati, the reason for traveling abroad for treatment is a delay in appointments which extend to months even for critical cases. “As a solution, we proposed in 2017 that health institutions operate from 3 pm to midnight for a fee, so that they are activated as a private institution after the official working hours. Medical devices are qualified to work 18 hours instead of only 7 hours, and thus we saved the costs of treatment abroad by spending on treatment in our local institutions.”