By Amr Emam: The Contractors' Association, the independent union of construction contractors, has welcomed a decision by Minister of Health Dr Hala Zayed to provide hundreds of thousands of construction workers with health insurance and also include them in the national health insurance scheme. The minister's decision, the association said, would end the suffering of a huge number of construction workers who do not know where to go when they fall ill. "Construction workers had suffered a lot in the past because of the absence of any form of health insurance," Daker Abdullah, the deputy head of the association told The Egyptian Gazette. "This is why this decision will be a great help to the workers." Zayed took the decision to include construction workers in the national health scheme a few days ago, in response to instructions by President Abdel Fattah El Sisi for extending health insurance cover to informal labour. Around three million people work in the construction sector and only 10 per cent of them have health insurance, according to the association. Zayed said for the construction workers to qualify for health insurance, they would have to pay four per cent of their wages to the Health Insurance Authority. Seventy-five per cent of this money, the minister added, would be paid by contractors and contracting companies employing the workers and the remaining 25 per cent would be paid by the workers themselves, the minister said. Although the vast majority of construction workers do not enjoy health insurance, some of them have social insurance. So, Zayed said, those who have social insurance would be able to pay their health insurance subscription together with their social insurance subscription. She said that the new package would also encourage workers to participate in the social insurance scheme in order for them to be part of the national health insurance system. Once the workers paid their health insurance subscription, she said, they would be given electronic cards they could use when they needed medical care at hospitals included in the national health insurance system. Abdullah said that his association would commit contracting companies and contractors to paying the monthly social and health insurance subscription for their workers to make sure that the workers would find healthcare when they needed it. The new move by the Health Ministry combines with other measures by the Egyptian state to provide protection for millions of informal workers. A few months ago – and also at the request of President Sisi – local banks offered life insurance policies for self-employed or informally employed workers. The new insurance policy, called Aman (Safety), offers financial compensation to the inheritors of subscribers in the event of a subscriber dying. The labour committee in the House of Deputies (parliament) welcomed the decision of the health minister. "The decision, the committee said, is a good one that puts the president's calls for offering social protection to informal workers into effect. "This ends one of the toughest challenges facing informal workers, namely the lack of health insurance for them," said committee head Gibali al-Maraghi.
