President Alvi urges insurance companies to expand services in health, agriculture sectors

President Dr Arif Alvi on Friday urged insurance companies to expand their services in the health and agriculture sectors and utilise modern technologies for enhancing their 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, he noted and urged 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’, organised by the Federal Insurance Ombudsman (FIO) secretariat at the Sindh Governor House.

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 could 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 underserved. He appreciated the role of the Federal Insurance Ombudsman in the timely resolution of public complaints against insurance companies and said it was encouraging to see the approach of dispute resolution through mediation, instead of prosecution bringing positive results.Earlier, Federal Insurance Ombudsman Dr Muhammad Khawar Jameel, while highlighting the performance and achievements of the FIO secretariat, said the quantum of monetary relief provided to complainants grew to Rs2.54 billion in the year 2022 from Rs410 million in 2019. He said significant growth had been achieved due to the change of policy for conflict resolution from prosecution to persuasion and mediation.