KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 6

The Insurance Board (IB) has formed a committee to study the probability of providing COVID-9 insurance claims to patients who have conducted a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test from private hospitals.

A meeting held today at the IB has formed a committee which will be coordinated by its Executive Director Raju Raman Poudel and include representatives from the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Health and Population as well.

The committee has to study the possibility of providing insurance claims based on the PCR reports obtained from private hospitals. The committee has been directed to study about the amendments that need to be made to the Corona Insurance Criteria 2020 based on the underwriting process.

Based on the recommendation of the committee, the board will do the needful to amend the protocols, reads the notice issued today by IB.

Until the protocols are amended and implemented, insurance companies have been directed to issue insurance claims to only those patients who have conducted their PCR test at government hospitals or laboratories.

Meanwhile, the committee has also been directed to study claims made by patients with PCR report obtained from private hospitals. Starting from March 30, the insurance companies had started issuing COVID-19 insurance polices.

So far, more than 900,000 people have bought the insurance and among them, more than 1,300 patients have claimed the COVID-19 insurance.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on September 7, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.