Jan 14, Kathmandu- There will now be one service provider organization at each level for health insurance services. According to the amendment to the Health Insurance Act 2074, now the Health Insurance Board has made a provision to have at least one service provider organization at each level when entering into an agreement.

The amendment to the law was approved after Health and Population Minister Pradip Paudel took the amendment proposal to the Council of Ministers meeting. According to the provisions of the amended act, it is expected that the problem of not being able to avail services in the municipality even if one was previously a member of the insurance company will end.

The clarification section of the amendment to the Act explains that, 'Previously, referrals had to be obtained from the level of permanent address, but in the new provision, the first service point should be understood as the health institution that the insured first chooses to receive health services.'

On this basis, it is now possible to establish a first point in the insured working area. For this, preparations are underway to amend the Health Insurance Regulations, according to Minister Poudel's secretariat.

Accordingly, the Ministry believes that after the amendment of the regulations, there will be less need to travel from the place of work to the place of permanent address to obtain insurance benefits.

Minister Poudel had publicly committed to making arrangements so that the insured could receive services from the same place they were insured.

According to Ministry Spokesperson Prakash Budhathoki, an alternative arrangement has been made through the amendment until the Executive Director is appointed.

The following subsection (6) has been added after subsection (5) of Section (4) of the Act 25. It states that 'If the post of Executive Director becomes vacant for any reason, the Ministry may depute at least eleven level employees of the Ministry and the Nepal Health Service under it to act as the Executive Director until the appointment of the Executive Director pursuant to subsection (3) of Section 22'.

This has paved the way for the Ministry of Health and Population to appoint an employee as an Executive Director with full powers instead of an Acting Executive Director until an Executive Director is appointed. This could address the problem of vacancies in the Executive Director position in the future, according to Minister Poudel's secretariat.