JEDDAH, 7 February 2008 — The General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI) has clarified that it will not provide medical coverage and compensation for work injuries of private sector employees aged 60 and above.
"GOSI provides health insurance cover for work injuries and work-related diseases," an official source said, adding that this coverage is given to Saudis as well as expatriates. In order to subscribe to GOSI's work injury cover, a worker's employer has to pay two percent of the worker's salary to the organization.
"All injuries that take place during work or as a result of work will be covered. Even road accidents are covered if they take place while a person is going to work or vice versa," the source pointed out.
The department for professional hazards at GOSI will provide the injured a variety of services, including health care, surgery, medicine and artificial limbs.
A subscriber to the service will also receive daily allowances for each day of absence from work as a result of work injuries. He/she will also be paid for transportation and accommodation for himself/herself and those who accompany him/her.
If a Saudi is handicapped by 50 to 100 percent as a result of a work-related injury or disease he will receive a monthly pension while a non-Saudi will get a lump sum amount as compensation. "If a person is injured during work he will receive comprehensive health care and a daily allowance during his stay at hospital while on medical leave," he said.
"An employee need not complete a particular period with GOSI to receive work injury benefits," the source said.
If an employee is unable to work for reasons not related to work, he will receive a monthly pension if he had paid subscriptions for not less than 12 months continuously or 18 months intermittently. "In that case he will get a 50 percent pension or not more than SR3,500," the source said.
In a related development, the Health Ministry said it had no plan to charge Saudis annual premiums for Saudis health insurance. "We have a plan to implement cooperative health insurance on Saudis without imposing any premium on them," an official source at the ministry told Al-Madinah.
The source said there were at present about 1,000 health insurance providers in the Kingdom including hospitals, medical centers and pharmacies. "The Health Insurance Council is currently working on increasing the number of health insurance providers in preparation to provide health insurance coverage to all Saudis and expatriates," he said.
