MANDATORY health insurance coverage could be extended to non-Bahraini widows of Bahraini men, according to Health Minister Dr Jalila Al Sayyed.
Confirming that her ministry was already assessing the issue, she said that the Health Insurance Law of 2018 allowed for the expansion of categories treated as citizens under the mandatory insurance system, based on recommendations by the Supreme Council for Health (SCH).
“The law was designed with flexibility to ensure fairness and humanitarian consideration,” said Dr Al Sayyed.
Dr Al Sayyed
“Article (26) provides a mechanism for the SCH to identify additional groups who deserve to be treated as citizens under the insurance system, and widows of Bahraini citizens clearly fall within this category.”
The minister was responding to a question by Shura Council member Nancy Khadoury on the legal status of non-Bahraini widows in relation to the law.
Ms Khadoury stressed that Article (26) already treated several non-Bahraini spouses and children of Bahrainis as citizens within the health insurance framework, but noted that the legal situation after the Bahraini husband’s death had not been explicitly addressed.
Ms Khadoury
She asked whether the SCH intended to study the possibility of including widows among the categories that received citizen-level coverage.
Dr Al Sayyed emphasised that the SCH was studying and reviewing data to determine which additional groups should be granted such status.
“The non-Bahraini widow of a Bahraini man is included in the SCH’s draft recommendation,” she confirmed.
“Our aim is to ensure she continues to receive the same level of healthcare services she was entitled to during her husband’s lifetime.”
She reiterated that mandatory health insurance applied to all citizens, residents and visitors, while specific non-Bahraini categories were treated as citizens. These include non-Bahraini women married to Bahraini men, non-Bahraini men married to Bahraini women, children of Bahraini women married to non-Bahraini men, and additional categories approved by the Cabinet.
Shura members will be notified of the minister’s response during the chamber’s weekly session on Sunday.
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