KARACHI: President Dr. Arif Alvi said on Friday that the insurance companies need to expand their services in health and agriculture sectors and utilize modern technologies for enhancing outreach to masses.
He said that the quantum of insurance sector in national economy was much less than its potential and in comparison to other countries of the region, therefore all the stakeholders should work hard for creating their good will among the public besides imparting awareness to masses for achieving exponential growth.
While addressing a seminar, titled “Role of ombudsman in development of insurance sector” organised by Federal Insurance Ombudsman secretariat Sindh Governor House Karachi, Dr. Arif Alvi said that government was providing social safety and assistance through its social safety net, public health services and in 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 of health insurance services in the country as those services could not only bridge the existing gapes but also be of great value in time of need.
President Alvi emphasizing the need of insurance services for agriculture sector observed that agriculture was another important sector of economy that was under served in lieu of insurance services and products while progress with regard to provision of agriculture insurance services was sluggish.
Rapidly developing information and communication technologies should be utilised to expand the outreach and ensuring the access of masses to the services while doors must be kept open for receiving the complaints and feed back of the public, he advised and suggested that creating good will of insurance companies among the general public and mass awareness would certainly help bringing gradual change in public perception about the sector.
The President appreciated the role of Federal Insurance Ombudsman in 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, highlighting performance and achievements of the FIO secretariat informed that 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 the significant growth had been achieved due to change of policy for conflict resolution from prosecution to persuasion and mediation.
