Kathmandu, September 4
The country’s insurance regulator, Beema Samiti (Insurance Board), has revised its rule on Covid-19 insurance recently. If the revision is finalised, it will deprive people testing positive for coronavirus at private labs of their claim for payment.
As per the revised criteria for claiming the payment for Covid-19 insurance, the person should have been tested positive for the virus at a lab operating under the Ministry of Health and Population.
The board claims it has already instructed insurance companies to make payments to the people testing positive at government-run labs only.
The board’s Executive Director Raju Raman Paudel says the decision was made in response to complaints that private labs could also produce fake reports. He, however, assures the issue will be further discussed among the stakeholders on Sunday or Monday before finalising the decision.
Meanwhile, stakeholders have criticised the new provision citing it contradicted the government’s policy of recognising tests at private labs also. Further, it could affect many as most of the government-run labs are already flooded with test samples, and, as a result, private labs have also attracted a significant number of people willing to test.
