By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
The Government of Sierra Leone has launched an insurance scheme to cover all 11, 039 health workers in the country. The Group Life Insurance will be carried out by the state owned National Insurance Company (NIC) for all health care workers who are in the frontline of the COVID-19 fight.
Some 300 healthcare workers are expected to be added to the scheme once they get pin codes from government.
This is the first time the government of Sierra Leone has taken insurance on behalf of healthcare workers. The insurance policy is part of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that was signed by government with healthcare workers in April this year.
During the official launch of the scheme on Tuesday at State House, President Julius Maada Bio said that this is part of his government’s commitment to ensure that healthcare workers were taken care of.
“Let us be reminded that when the Ebola Virus Disease struck in 2014, hundreds of our healthcare workers paid the ultimate price. The pain of that tragedy for their survivors and for us as a nation was made even more excruciating as those survivors did not receive appropriate compensation for the loss of their loved ones,” President Bio said.
“Now more than ever healthcare workers are assured that when they die or fall sick in the line of duty, their loved ones are not adversely affected by a temporary or permanent loss of their employment,” he added.
The government has paid over Le7 billion as premium for the policy from June 2020 to June 2021, the president said.
The Minister of Health, Professor Alpha Wurie, said a total of 166 healthcare workers have been affected by COVID-19 and six healthcare workers have died.
On Tuesday, President Bio presented cheques to the next of kins of four of the six healthcare workers on behalf of the government, whiles thanking them for the service of their deceased loved ones. Three of them received Le251million each, while the third received Le71million.
NIC will pay the death benefit for the other two.
Explaining the total package, the Managing Director of NIC, Abdul Kargbo, said: “the policy covers death benefit, the payment of two year’s annual gross salary to the next of kin of the deceased health care workers. For critical illness, the healthcare worker is paid 50% of the insured’s gross salary to take care of medical expenses of the insured healthcare worker infected with COVID-19, a temporary compensation of 15% of the insured’s gross salary and a lump sum payment to the insured upon recovery from COVID-19,”Kargbo added.
President Bio also said government would sponsor a maximum of three children of deceased healthcare workers until they complete undergraduate level.
Dr Wurie later told Politico after the press briefing that now that this insurance deal has been authorized, it will make a significant difference by motivating healthcare workers.
“You know whatever you do you must have the confidence that people are looking out for you, your children. They have just been told that the package is not just about those who have died but also those who have been infected by the disease and recovered,” Professor Wurie said.
The President of the Sierra Leone Medical and Dental Association, Dr Delvin Findley, described the day as a “historic day” whiles thanking President Bio for his commitment to health workers.
“This is a historic day for us because we know we have been covered for the work we are doing,” he said.
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