Takaful - Sudan: Regulations being drafted for mandatory health insurance
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Jun 2016
The Sudanese government is working out the implementation details for a new law that requires that every Sudanese person have access to healthcare services without facing financial risk.
Mr Mohammed Yusuf Ahmed, the Director-General of Planning and Research at the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), in a recent interview with the Joint Learning Network, said: “There is still much left to be done. We need to do more research around the costing of health services to offer affordable prices to our beneficiaries. We’re also thinking about new forms of payment, instead of fee-for-service—with capitation as one alternative payment method.”
NHIF is collaborating with the Federal Ministry of Health to decide the specific services to be included in the health coverage.
The new law, which was passed last January, requires that all private employers provide health coverage to their employees and all universities provide coverage to their students. The NHIF is also holding meetings with employers and various organisations to discuss this.
NHIF was started in 1995. At that time, the first law mandated for civil servants to be enrolled in health insurance. Then in 2003, an amendment was passed, which placed universal healthcare as a priority in Sudan. However, the amendment did not make health coverage compulsory and as a result, many Sudanese are still not covered.
Mr Ahmed said that since 2014, the government has been very committed to providing health insurance cover to the poor. Today, more than 1.6 million poor families are covered by health insurance. Sudan has a population of around 40 million.