By ALISON ANIS
A POLICY providing for workers’ healthcare has been put in place following directives from the National Executive Council.
Minister for Labour and Industrial Relations Mark Maipakai and Minister for Health Saza Zibe, in a joint statement, yesterday announced that the NEC in December 2005 approved a “compulsory employer-funded health insurance scheme for all formal sector employees in the country”.
“An appropriate compulsory healthcare system and service delivery model for workers had been put in place … with this, the Government would now be free to plan for adequate level of (healthcare) services for the formal sector throughout PNG,” the ministers added.
The Department of Health and the Labour and Industrial Relations were appointed by the Government as the key implementing agencies to undertake extensive consultation with all key formal and informal sector agencies, including donor agencies.
The consultation aimed at producing a terms of reference (TOR) for feasibility and cost-benefit analysis.
The consultation process had been completed and the submission was now in progress through central agencies coordinating committee (CACC) and NEC for the TOR and the funding component to be approved.
According to the ministers, the healthcare policy will be consistent with the medium-term development strategies (MDTX) and the millennium development goals (MDG) that addressed labour mobility, strategic alliances and partnership with private sector, primary healthcare and healthcare for workers, families and dependents.
“The Government seeks to provide appropriate minimum healthcare funding and service delivery model for the entire formal sector employees throughout the country.
“It also seeks to address the healthcare funding woes and the social security of the country’s workers,” they said.
The TOR and the funding level for feasibility study will be considered by NEC and officially announced soon by the Prime Minister.