Doha: The Shura Council held its regular weekly meeting via videoconferencing under the chairmanship of Speaker HE Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid Al Mahmoud, at the Council's headquarters on Monday.
During its session, the Council discussed a draft law on health care services in the country, which included 47 articles and 6 chapters and stipulated the provision of health care services to citizens in government health facilities free of charge.
Under the draft law, the Ministry of Public Health will set standards for the provision of health care services in government and private health facilities as well as compulsory health insurance and supervision. It will also provide an integrated, high-quality, efficient and sustainable health system and work on developing and maintaining compulsory health insurance.
According to the draft law, health insurance is mandatory to ensure the provision of basic health care services to expatriates and visitors to the country. It is also not permissible to issue an entry visa for an expatriate or visitor, renew it, grant or renew a residence permit, and it is not permissible to employ expatriates, except after submitting proof they hold compulsory health insurance for the duration of the stay.
The draft law provides for the provision of health care services to beneficiaries in emergency situations without requiring them to pay any amounts until the danger is overcome even if the service provider is not within the network of health care service providers to the beneficiary, and that this does not prejudice the right of the health care service provider to refer to a company insurance, or the employer or the recruiter, as the case may be, to pay the cost of this service.
The draft law defines the rights and duties of patients that must be observed when receiving health care services and the obligations of the parties to the insurance contract and providers of health care services, as well as the penalties for violators of its provisions.
The Council decided to refer the aforementioned draft law to the Public Services and Utilities Committee for study and to submit a report on it to the Council.