RIYADH, 28 April 2007 — A new social insurance scheme for women will be launched in Riyadh on May 8. Princess Hessa Al-Shaalan, wife of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, will attend the launch of the new insurance service at the Neyyara Hall in Riyadh, according to Muhammad Al-Aqla, undersecretary for social insurance and housing at the Ministry of Social Affairs yesterday.
Al-Aqla said this was the first experiment to offer exclusive social insurance service to the women’s section. He said the female insurance experiment during its trial phase in Riyadh has been a success and “the ministry plans to take the experiment to all other parts of the Kingdom gradually.”
The official underscored the need for the insurance service to be taken to the female sector simultaneously with the men as the females comprise more than half of the people who deserve the ministry’s assistance and pension schemes.
Aqla said steps are underway to extend social insurance service for women in Makkah region as well.
The undersecretary said the ministry has made a contract with a leading information technology company for the supply of factual information about the beneficiaries of social insurance to guarantee that deserving people get its assistance.
