KATHMANDU, NOVEMBER 3

The insurance sector regulator has directed insurance companies to settle COVID-19 insurance claims of the claimants within a week of verifying their positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests.

The decision in this regard was taken today during a meeting held at the Ministry of Finance (MoF) in the presence of Finance Minister Bishnu Poudel.

During the meeting, it was also agreed upon to establish a hotline number and help desk services to examine the complaints regarding the delay of insurance payment to the claimants.

Minister Poudel also directed the concerned bodies to do the needful so that the COVID insurance claims could be settled without unnecessary delay.

The meeting that was attended by the MoF Secretaries Shishir Kumar Dhungana and Ram Sharan Pudasaini, Insurance Board Chair Chiranjeevi Chapagain, among others, also decided that the Insurance Board would coordinate and monitor the situation of COVID insurance claims and settlement and submit a daily progress report to the MoF.

Today’s decision follows a large number of complaints that the insurance companies were dilly-dallying in settling the COVID insurance claims even after the insured had followed all the due procedures.

The Coronavirus Insurance Programme had been announced by the government in the budget of the ongoing fiscal year. However, the programme ran into trouble in less than a month of the launch when non-life insurance companies decided not to sell the policy, assuming that the amount to be paid in claims will be very high.

However, the Insurance Board directed non-life insurance firms to give continuity to the coronavirus insurance scheme the very next day after the government assured to share the risk with the insurance firms, given the increasing cases of COVID-19 across the country.

Separately, Ambassador of India to Nepal Vinay Mohan Kwatra paid a courtesy call to Finance Minister Poudel today.

The ambassador posted details of the visit on Twitter, according to which, the two held positive discussions to further strengthen the bilateral economic and development partnership between the two countries for mutual prosperity and progress.

Ambassador Kwatra also handed over a cheque of Rs one billion for housing reconstruction projects in Gorkha and Nuwakot that are being supported by India.