Kathmandu, March 16
The Health Insurance Board has begun collaboration with the Department of National ID and Civil Registration with the aim of expanding the digital system in the health insurance programme.
The board has signed a memorandum of understanding with the department to gradually make the health insurance system based on the National Identity Card (NID) number.
The agreement allows the details and identification number contained in the national identity card to be integrated into the health insurance system.
The memorandum was signed by the department’s Director General, Namraj Ghimire and the executive director of the Health Insurance Board, Dr Krishna Prasad Paudel.
According to Bikesh Malla, information officer at the Health Insurance Board, preparations are underway to gradually shift the registration and renewal process of health insurance to an online system following the collaboration.
Malla said the board is working towards a target of enabling new registrations through the online system by Chaitra 25.
“We are preparing to move toward a system where services will be provided based on the citizen’s National Identity Card number instead of a separate health insurance card,” Malla said.
He said linking the system with the NID database is expected to solve many existing issues in the health insurance programme.
By integrating the programme with the national identity database collected from across the country, data verification will become easier, duplicate registrations will decrease, and misuse of insurance cards will be reduced.
At present, around 10 million citizens are enrolled in the health insurance programme. However, due to the manual system, some places have experienced problems such as duplicate records of the same individual, mismatched age or personal details, and misuse.
“Once the system is linked to the NID number, these problems will be largely controlled,” Malla said.
With the expansion of the digital system, citizens will also be able to enrol in or renew their health insurance online. There are also plans to introduce biometric verification when receiving services in the future.
The new system is expected to simplify the registration and renewal process. Since digital verification will be based on the details already recorded in the identity card, service recipients will be able to receive faster services at hospitals and service centres.
