Ceylinco medi spots to be opened

By Jayampathy Jayasinghe

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Ceylinco will open several medi spots in the country for diagnosis of ailments of patients under an insurance health policy.

Diagnosis of ailments will be made easy with the launch of the National Health Insurance policy by Ceylinco Insurance General last week.

The unique health insurance cover has been designed to include a broad spectrum of persons irrespective of their age group for an affordable price of Rs 500 a year.

Minister of Healthcare and Nutrition, Nimal Siripala de Silva, the Chief Guest, told the launch that the Government does not intend slashing the funding provided to the state health sector by any means as it was the responsibility of the state to provide a better healthcare to the community at large. The state spends around Rs 89 million for healthcare annually, he said.

Referring to the new health insurance cover, he said, it provides an opportunity for people to learn about ailments in advance before it afflicts them later. The state spends an enormous amount of money in providing healthcare to persons.

He stressed the importance of a healthy competition between the state and the private sector and added that the private sector too had been providing healthcare that had benefited most people. The Government will provide assistance to the private sector to provide better healthcare facilities to the community.

He said the state alone cannot bear the cost of providing heathcare to everybody and it was important the private sector provides healthcare at an affordable price.

The Minister however said that people in rural areas were still ignorant of insurance as lack of knowledge due to not being educated on the subject.

People in rural areas are flushed with cash these days as a result of being able to sell their produce at a higher cost, he said.

Chairman, Ceylinco Consolidated Ltd, Dr. Lalith Kotalawela said he very much appreciated the concept and the vision expressed by the Minister and promised to fulfil them.

He said his enterprise was 100 per cent local consisting of a dedicated workforce working for the uplift of the health sector.

Chief Executive Director, Ceylinco Insurance General, Ajith Gunewardena said patients can visit their clinics several times for medical consultations with no additional costs. In response to a question, he said the insurance cover does not provide the cost of treatment involved.

Meanwhile, Ceylinco Medical Spots will be opened soon in Panadura, Embilipitiya, Katunayake and Kandy. The first Medi Spot was opened in Galle recently.