Draft policy to insure expatriates put under CCI microscope
Sunday, 16 August 2009
S M Jahangir
The government is going ahead with a plan to formulate a new policy for making life insurance coverage mandatory for the expatriate Bangladeshis, who remit home nearly US$10 billion annually.
The proposed policy aims to support the expatriate workers and their families in case of any fatality, official sources said.
"We have already drafted a policy with a provision on mandatory life insurance policies for Bangladeshis going abroad with jobs," a senior official of the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment (MEWOE) told the FE.
The official also said after being prepared by an official committee, the draft policy has already been sent to the Chief Controller of Insurance (CCI) for scrutiny.
"We are expecting to give the proposed policy a final shape soon after getting the CCI's opinions on it," said the officail.
Earlier, the committee prepared the daft policy in line with the opinions and suggestions of stakeholders, including the Department of Insurance, relevant government agencies and manpower recruit ing agents, the ministry officials said.
According to them, the policy aims to support the expatriate Bangladeshis in case of incidents like illness, death or physical damage in accident or any other fatalities while working abroad.
Another objective of the proposed policy is to ensure welfare of the expatriate workers, whose remittances are an integral part of the economy of Bangladesh.
"The government has initiated framing of such a policy in order to support the expatriate Bangladeshis as well as their families in case of any fatality suffered by the workers abroad," said an MEWOE official.
In absence of such an insurance coverage, many of the expatriate workers faced immense insecurity, an official said adding that sometimes their families became totally helpless.
The official further said the authorities are now studying some of the issues including premium payment system and involving life insurance companies with the process.
Apart from the payment of premium, the authorities are also framing the policy in such a manner that introduction of the mandatory insurance policy does not cause any additional burden or hassle to the overseas-going workers, they mentioned.
The government is going ahead with a plan to formulate a new policy for making life insurance coverage mandatory for the expatriate Bangladeshis, who remit home nearly US$10 billion annually.
The proposed policy aims to support the expatriate workers and their families in case of any fatality, official sources said.
"We have already drafted a policy with a provision on mandatory life insurance policies for Bangladeshis going abroad with jobs," a senior official of the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment (MEWOE) told the FE.
The official also said after being prepared by an official committee, the draft policy has already been sent to the Chief Controller of Insurance (CCI) for scrutiny.
"We are expecting to give the proposed policy a final shape soon after getting the CCI's opinions on it," said the officail.
Earlier, the committee prepared the daft policy in line with the opinions and suggestions of stakeholders, including the Department of Insurance, relevant government agencies and manpower recruit ing agents, the ministry officials said.
According to them, the policy aims to support the expatriate Bangladeshis in case of incidents like illness, death or physical damage in accident or any other fatalities while working abroad.
Another objective of the proposed policy is to ensure welfare of the expatriate workers, whose remittances are an integral part of the economy of Bangladesh.
"The government has initiated framing of such a policy in order to support the expatriate Bangladeshis as well as their families in case of any fatality suffered by the workers abroad," said an MEWOE official.
In absence of such an insurance coverage, many of the expatriate workers faced immense insecurity, an official said adding that sometimes their families became totally helpless.
The official further said the authorities are now studying some of the issues including premium payment system and involving life insurance companies with the process.
Apart from the payment of premium, the authorities are also framing the policy in such a manner that introduction of the mandatory insurance policy does not cause any additional burden or hassle to the overseas-going workers, they mentioned.