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All foreign workers are set to be offered private medical insurance by their employers in the wake of a major announcement by the Ruler of Dubai. Senior Labour Ministry officials confirmed yesterday that a ruling by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum meant all workers in the emirate would be entitled to the health cover.
The clarification comes after the Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE ordered new labour laws and rights for all expats, including construction workers and housemaids. The changes will mean all companies employing foreign workers will have to provide medical cover for them. Assistant undersecretary of labour, Hamid Bin Demas, told 7DAYS that all expats would be entitled to the benefit.
“Foreign workers in all sectors would be given medical coverage, we are not just talking about construction companies here.” He added that this followed a law recently passed in Abu Dhabi, which required all private companies to provide employees with private medical insurance. Officials in Dubai’s health and labour ministries are also working to come up with a law to determine the medical care requirements and ways to enforce it.
Bin Demas said the labour ministry currently requires employers to give their staff medical cards, which entitles workers to treatment in government hospitals but at a cost. “A new law would specify the medical cover required and organised plan,” he added. Alan Graham, an expat who currently doesn’t enjoy medical coverage from his employer, said the move is long over due. “It’s scandalous that companies turning huge profits are so exploitive and stingy. They have to be forced to look after their staff. It’s not like we are covered by a state health system,” he added.
However, one Dubai-based company general manager, who heads a medium-sized organisation of around 45 employees, said that although the authorities are right to do what they can to protect working conditions, “people in our position fear rising costs, and we also believe that many employers will get around this law by simply declaring that a proportion of an employee’s existing salary will in the future be set aside for medical insurance allowance. The staff’s salaries will not go up, and while they will have insurance, they’ll be paying for it themselves.” |
