DOHA: For a first in the country, the Supreme Council of Health (SCH) has closed down a private clinic temporarily for misusing the national health insurance scheme (Seha).
The closure is effective for one month from March 16. The decision was taken by Minister of Public Health H E Abdullah bin Khalid Al Qahtani based on investigations conducted by the National Health Insurance Company (NHIC) that manages Seha, the SCH said in a statement yesterday.
The SCH said it had asked NHIC to stop dealing with the said clinic. The statement said that the clinic has been closed for misusing the national health insurance scheme but didn’t name the facility nor specified the violation. The case has been referred to the legal affairs section of the SCH for further action.
SCH recently said that it had detected three cases of suspected fraud related to the national insurance scheme which apparently has led to the closure. This is the first time a clinic has been closed for misuse of the insurance scheme. NHIC is investigating other suspected cases before referring it to the SCH, added the statement.
The SCH has urged the public to report to the NHIC any suspected cases of misuse of Seha either by healthcare providers or beneficiaries.
NHIC has launched a hotline service — 8008800 — to receive queries and complaints about the insurance scheme. The Seha provider network includes three private hospitals, private clinics besides leading public hospitals. Seha covers all citizens and is scheduled to cover expatriates by 2016-end.
Meanwhile, SCH has closed down many pharmacies for selling medicines without a prescription, a local Arabic daily reported, quoting a source.
Over the past two weeks, 25 pharmacies faced closure for selling anti-impotency medicine Viagra and antibiotics Augmentin and Cialis, among others, without a prescription, said the daily. Investigations by the Pharmacy and Drug Control Department at the SCH found that some pharmacies were doing this under pressure from patients but this is a clear violation of the rules, the report said.
The Peninsula
