Nearly a million expatriates still lack medical insurance, even though health cover for expatriates has been made mandatory since 2006.
Only 7.6 million out of 10.4 million expatriates living in the Kingdom had medical cover at the end of last year. These expatriates included about 1.93 million house help, consisting of maids and drivers, who do not have medical insurance as they can be treated in government hospitals by showing their residence permits.
This leaves more than 870,000 expat workers are not covered by any form of medical insurance, reported the Saudi Gazette.
Those who do not have medical insurance are violating residency and labour laws.
According to the demographic statistics, non-Saudis constitute about 33% of the Kingdom’s total population.
Mr Yasser Al-Maarik, spokesman for the Council of Cooperative Health Insurance (CCHI) which oversees the mandatory health insurance scheme, said that employers are obliged to provide medical insurance to their employees and their families.
“No iqamas (residence permits) will be issued or renewed without medical insurance for employees and their dependents,” he said.
He added that CCHI often gets fake medical insurance documents for issuance or renewal of iqamas.
Meanwhile, CCHI has been implementing the system of consolidating health insurance into a single policy for private-sector employees and their dependents.
The third phase of this programme started on 10 January, covering employers who have between 25 to 49 employees. The fourth phase will be implemented with effect from 10 April for employers who have less than 25 employees.
The first phase started on 10 July last year for employers with 100 employees or more, while the second phase began on 10 October for employers with more than 50 employees.