KARACHI, Jun 02: President Dr. Arif Alvi, on Friday, urged insurance companies to expand their services in the health and agriculture sectors and utilize modern technologies for enhancing outreach to the masses.
The quantum of the insurance sector in the national economy was much less than its potential and in comparison to other countries of the region, the president noted and stressed all the stakeholders to work hard for creating goodwill among the public besides imparting awareness to the masses for achieving exponential growth.
The president was addressing a seminar, titled “Role of Ombudsman in Development of insurance sector” organized by the Federal Insurance Ombudsman secretariat here at Sindh Governor House Karachi.
Dr. Arif Alvi said that the government was providing social safety and assistance through its social safety net, public health services, and in the shape of compensation in case of natural calamities and accidents but more initiatives were required to cover the entire population of the country.
He said that health expenditure was a major concern for people, particularly the lower income group and there was a vast potential for health insurance services in the country as those services could not only bridge the existing gaps but also be of great value in time of need.
Emphasizing the need for insurance services for the agriculture sector the president observed that agriculture was another important sector of the economy that was under-served in lieu of insurance services and products while progress with regard to the provision of agriculture insurance services was sluggish.
Rapidly developing information and communication technologies should be utilized to expand the outreach and ensure the access of masses to the services while doors must be kept open for receiving the complaints and feedback of the public, he advised and suggested that creating goodwill of insurance companies among the general public and mass awareness would certainly help to bring gradual change in public perception about the sector.
The president appreciated the role of the Federal Insurance Ombudsman in the timely resolution of public complaints against insurance companies and said that it was encouraging to see that approach of dispute resolution through mediation, instead of prosecution, brought positive results.
Earlier, Federal Insurance Ombudsman, Dr. Muhammad Khawar Jameel, highlighted the performance and achievements of the FIO secretariat and informed that the quantum of monetary relief provided to complainants grown to Rs.2.54 billion in the year 2022 from Rs.410 million in 2019.
He said that significant growth has been achieved due to the change of policy for conflict resolution from prosecution to persuasion and mediation.
