26,000 registered for Saada insurance plan

Dubai:

A total of 26,000 Emiratis have registered under Saada health insurance and additional 24,000 would be registered within a week.

The insurance scheme launched on June 2 is well on target to provide health insurance to 130,000 people a couple of months ahead of their stipulated time of end of the year, Dr Haidar Al Yousuf, Director of Public Health Funding at the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) told Gulf News.

Saada, meaning ‘happiness’, is a smart programme to provide insurance cover in private hospitals for Emiratis in Dubai and was launched by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. Emiratis who have no other insurance cover can enrol for it using their National ID as a registration tool.

Meanwhile, Emiratis registering for Saada were impressed by the efficient workflow systems and reported that on an average it took as little as 1.5 minutes to register.

Confirming this, Dr Haidar Al Yousuf, Director of Public Health Funding at the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) said: “The registration at centres is really quick. The minimum time taken for registration was 10 seconds for an individual and 15 minutes for a family of eight members.”

Dr Yousuf added: We have been registering at an average of 16,000 Emiratis per week. This pace might slacken a bit during Ramadan and the subsequent summer season, but we hope to reach our target by October, well before the end of the year.”

Emiratis seeking to register themselves are advised specifically not to call on the tool free number. Dr Yousuf elaborated on the procedure: “Emiratis seeking to enrol under the Saada programme need to log on to the website www.saada.com or through a smart app for electronic registration. He gave specific instructions for families registering together: “Usually when people register their families electronically, they provide a single contact number. We want people to know that Saada is about personalised insurance and we need to send reminders about check-ups, preventive screening tests and so on, on the individual’s personal mobile. So I would like people to provide separate contact details for each family member to facilitate texting personal reminders to each member. However, when they make the appointment for actual site registration at a centre, only one family member needs to be present. He can carry the National ID for each member and within no time the registration is completed.”

Saada as a smart insurance programme is very unique because it has been designed to focus on preventive health screening. While all claims can be settled through the e-claim portal, the insurance will have a special feature wherein it will send out reminders for preventive screening to all registered users periodically. Those enrolled must go in for their regular diabetes, hypertension, oncology screenings depending on the conditions they are prone to based on their medical and family history. Those failing to take these screenings will have a problem renewing their insurance and this will help nip major lifestyle diseases in the bud, taking off the major burden of health care expenditure which is being allocated is major proportions due to the spread of lifestyle diseases.