RIYADH, 13 December 2005 — The National Company for Cooperative Insurance (NCCI), the biggest insurance company in the Kingdom, has launched seven categories of medical malpractice insurance policies for the Kingdom’s medical and para-medical professions from both the public and private sectors. Ahmed Al-Shalan, marketing and sales manager of NCCI, said the insurance has now been made mandatory by the government.
Medical malpractice has been described as body or mental injuries, illness, disease or death of any patient caused by any negligent act, error or omission committed by the insured person within Saudi Arabia.
The medical malpractice insurance cover ranges from SR100,000 to SR1 million with five other policies in between to cover the indemnity limits. They are in the range of SR250,000 (three types) and SR500,000 (two types). The policies come with two options, which are available in five categories.
For instance, in Category 1 (SR100,000), the indemnity claim is limited to SR100,000 — whether it is for a single claim or aggregate claims in a year. However, for Categories 2 and 3, two options are available. For Category 2, the financial limit is SR250,000, whether it is for a single or multiple claims in a year. In Category 3, also valued at SR250,000, the policy holder has the option of making claims up to SR500,000 during the whole year.
Similar options are available for policies in the SR500,000 range, with the policy holder either eligible for an indemnity of SR500,000 — one claim or multiple claims in a year. In Category 6, which also has an indemnity claim of SR500,000, the policy holder can exercise the option of staking claims up to SR1 million during the whole year. Category 7 offers the same indemnity cover — SR1 million (any one claim) or annual aggregate.
The annual contribution toward the medical malpractice insurance cover ranges from SR700 for a nurse to SR875 for a general practitioner and SR950 for a plastic surgeon. It also covers compensation and claimant’s costs as well as the cost of defense and investigation of the alleged malpractice.
Al-Shalan said the medical profession is currently supervised under the Rules of Implementation for Regulations of the Practice of Medicine and Dentistry set out in Ministerial Resolution No.288/17L. “Although these rules set guidelines for the profession, they do not in any way limit the liability of the individual practitioner under Shariah Law,” Al-Shalan said, adding that the number of investigations carried out by the legal medical committee has been increasing every year.
He pointed out that the policy is meant to safeguard the professional interests of surgeons, doctors, nurses, pharmacists and dentists.
