Members of the Rwanda Insurers Association (ASSAR) on Tuesday told senators that they are ready to sell premiums for medical professional insurance, but cannot do so without the ministerial order that would guide the implementation of the law establishing this type of insurance.

The insurers had appeared before the Senatorial Standing Committee on social affairs, human rights and petitions as part of the ongoing probe into the delayed implementation of the law that provides for insurance of health workers, health institutions, as well as patients against any health risk likely to be suffered while at hospital.

The law was passed and gazetted early last year.

The law stipulates that, any health facility, whether public or private, must take out insurance from a state-authorised insurance company.

Marc Rugenera, the Managing Director of Radiant Insurance Company, told the senators that the only way the law can be effective is after it is enforced by a ministerial order, which would make it an obligation for medical practitioners to take out such insurance.

He said the only obligatory insurance service in Rwanda is one for automobiles and suggested that the same should be made for the medical professional insurance.

"People take up this (automobile) insurance policy because they are obliged to have it and authorities take responsibility to ask for it. If the police did not ask for this insurance, I am sure more than 80 per cent of the public would not take it up,” Rugenera said.

"I, therefore, want to assure you that without enforcement order, the medical professional insurance would not be as practical and impactful as we want it to be,” said Regenera, a former Minister of Finance.

Joseph Bahenda, the Director General of the Compagnie Rwandaise d’Assurance et de Réassurance, Assurance Générales (Corar AG Ltd) added; "It seems we value cars more than human life when it comes to insurance.”

Antoine Uwamungu, the General Manager of Phoenix Rwanda Assurance Company Ltd, said the ministerial order was drafted two years ago but has never been published.

"We participated in the drafting of the ministerial order but we do not know why it has never been published,” he said.

"We cannot, for instance, determine the premiums and contribution by each party to the policy; those are some of the details that are supposed to be determined by the ministerial order,” he added.

On Monday, the same committee tasked heads of various medical associations to explain why the law was not being implemented. The medical workers acknowledged the hitches but blamed it on the delays in publication of the ministerial order.

Rights commission speaks out

Laurent Nkongoli, of the National Human Rights Commission, addressing the same committee, yesterday, said the responsible ministries (Finance and Health) should expedite the publication of the ministerial order so that the law comes into practice.

"The implementation of laws that are supposed to be backed by ministerial orders has always been delayed because such orders take long to be passed,” Nkongori said.

When contacted, the Minister fior Finance and Economic Planning, Claver Gatete, said the order would be published soon.

"The implementation legal instrument is dependent on the market study on medical premiums. This study is being led by a consultancy firm hired by Rwanda Development Board and it is now complete, ready for validation by all stakeholders. The validation meeting will take place shortly and the issue will be resolved,” he said.