RIYADH, 8 March 2005 — The Ministry of Health has announced that from June 1 any company with a work force of 500 or more expatriates must provide them with medical insurance coverage before the expatriates will be issued an iqama (residence permit).

The announcement was made by Dr. Reda Khalil, adviser to the minister of health, at a meeting with insurance companies and hospitals at King Fahd Medical City yesterday. The meeting aimed to prepare health care providers with details of the plan and methods of administration.

The Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) will now complete the selection process of insurance firms which are registered with it and which meet the criteria for issuing licenses. At present, the National Company for Cooperative Insurance (NCCI) is the only approved company operating in the sector.

The meeting also explored the possibility of government hospitals being allowed to participate in the health insurance scheme. It discussed the status of non-Saudi employees working in these hospitals and whether belonging to the private or the government sector.

Spelling out the stages of the scheme, Dr. Khalil said it would be implemented in three phases. The second phase will involve companies with a non-Saudi work force of 100 to 500 and the third stage companies with a non-Saudi work force of less then 100.

All non-Saudis in either the public or private sector will be included in the scheme.

He said the scheme covered most needs of the non-Saudi employees whether inpatients or outpatients.

The Council of Saudi Chambers for Commerce and Industry has set up the National Center for Medical Insurance Standards which will establish uniform standards to be followed by health care providers. This would ensure conformity by health care providers in servicing their clients.

Insurance market sources believe that once the three phases of the health insurance scheme are implemented, they will generate some SR5 billion annually in the insurance sector. That figure is based on the assumption that the annual premium for five million expatriates in the Kingdom is fixed at SR1,000 per person.