The Managing Director of Aasandha Company Limited, Aminath Zeeniya has said that a co-payment system is necessary for the long-term sustainability of the company, that manages the state-initiated health insurance scheme.
While speaking at the SOE Committee of the Parliament, Zeeniya said that contributions from the public or abled parties were required for Aasandha, and highlighted such decisions fell under the purview of National Social Protection Agency (NSPA).
She assured on adhering to any changes made by NSPA to the governance of Aasandha.
"Since it is a scheme under NSPA's purview, any changes to it can be made only by the agency. The scheme's board is also under NSPA, but we support adopting a co-payment system, without it sustaining the scheme is unlikely," Zeeniya said.
With the inclusion of the supplementary budget, this year's budgeted total for Aasandha rose to MVR 2.3 billion, out of which MVR 1.7 billion has already been spent.
While the state's expenditure for the scheme expands year-on-year, the government spent MVR 7.4 billion on the scheme over the past five years.
According to World Bank statistics, state's expenditure to Aasandha rose 18 percent from 2014 to 2019.
Despite this, patients subscribing for Aasandha services during the same period only rose by three percent.
The significant rise in the scheme's expenditure is mainly attributed to the significant inflation of price in purchasing pharmaceuticals or medicine.
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