MUSCAT: Domestic workers in the Sultanate will also be covered under the mandatory health insurance scheme being rolled out for private sector employees. This comes following a decision issued by Sheikh Abdullah Salim al Salmi, executive president, Capital Market Authority (CMA), making amendments to the Unified Health Insurance Policy ‘Dhamani’.

As per the amendments, the insurance term of the domestic worker will be for two years. Among the benefits of this scheme, the coverage includes work related injuries and the maximum limit has been increased to OMR 4,000 for inpatient treatment and OMR 500 in outpatient clinics. 

The amendments to the insurance schemes were made after discussions with the community and the stakeholders in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and the representatives of the concerned embassies.  According to data from National centre for Statistics and Information, the number of household workers doing different jobs stood at 215,149 at the end of February 2019. This includes 157,854 females and 57,295 male workers.