New health insurance policy to include obesity treatment

The Health Ministry and the Council of Cooperative Health Insurance (CCHI) are currently considering a project to amend the current insurance policy to cover the treatment of obesity and the diseases resulting from it, Health Minister Khaled Al-Falih was reported by Al-Eqtisadiah daily on Tuesday.

“We are working together to amend the current medical insurance policy so as to cover the treatment of obesity and the diseases resulting from it in order to reduce the financial burden on the citizens,” he said.

The minister said his ministry is endeavoring to make the Saudi society a healthy one and among the best health societies in the world through spreading health awareness to change the lifestyle and food habits.

“We are trying to help in obliterating obesity which has widely spread in our society and is representing a financial burden on the families and the health sector,” the  minister asserted.

Meanwhile, the executive bureau of the council of the GCC health ministries said in a study that about 20,000 people die annually in the Kingdom because of obesity. The study said the rate of obesity in the Kingdom has reached about 36 percent including about 3.5 million children.

The study said the treatment of overweight citizens in the hospitals is costing the Kingdom about SR500 million every year and added that one in every three children is obese.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait to be among the countries with highest cases of obesity.

Medical insurance companies in the Kingdom have increased by 37 percent during the past eight years to reach 28 offering medical insurance to the citizens and expatriates.

There are about 9.6 million people in the Kingdom who are covered under medical insurance.