Muscat: Companies in the private sector will soon be required to provide health insurance for their employees, according to a statement issued by Oman’s Capital Market Authority (CMA).
It did not give a specific date for implementation.
According to the statement, CMA is currently drafting plans to introduce mandatory health insurance for all residents in the country after the Council of Ministers made recommendations to do so.
“The decision aims at meeting the needs of the employees of the private sector relating to coverage of basic health, to limit the high cost employers of private sector will incur in view of the current economic situation in addition to providing quality services provided by the insurance companies and health care unit to the insured,” the CMA said in a statement.
The CMA described the decision as a milestone in achieving a unified health insurance policy for private sector employees and their families.
It hopes to roll out the implementation gradually as it is still being legally reviewed.
Only nine per cent of Omanis and 10 per cent of expatriates in the private sector are provided with health insurance.
This shocking statistic triggered authorities to have the issue studied and changes to be implemented.
“The aim of the health insurance plan is to raise the quality and efficiency of the private health sector, which must compete with the public health sector, and this cannot happen unless there is proper financing in the private health sector, which could come from health insurance,” Minister of Health, Ahmad Bin Mohammad Bin Obaid Al Saeedi, said last year.
