AIA’s valuable support to staff of IDH, Mulleriyawa and Welikanda Hospitals
View(s):AIA Insurance has pledged its support to help Sri Lanka fight COVID -19, at a meeting held last week at the Ministry of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine, under the patronage of the Minister of Health and Indigenous Medical Services – Pavithra Wanniarachchi, Director General of Health Services – Dr. Anil Jasinghe and a number of other senior officials of the Ministry. AIA Insurance was represented by the CEO- Nikhil Advani and Head of Services and Health Care Management, Priyankara De Silva.
Mr. Advani expressed the company’s desire to pay tribute to the frontline hospital staff who are risking their own health and safety to take care of affected patients at these hospitals that are focused on the treatment of COVID-19. AIA has therefore agreed to provide not just a life insurance cover, but also importantly, a hospital cash benefit to all Health Ministry registered permanent staff, who are on government payroll, attached to the three hospitals, Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH), the Mulleriyawa Hospital and the Welikanda Hospital, the company said in a media release.
With this free cover, should any of the hospital staff contract COVID-19 and is hospitalized, AIA will provide a hospital cash benefit of Rs.1000 per day, for up to 14 days. While the medical staff’s primary care needs will be supported by the hospitals in such a situation, AIA’s objective is to provide the comfort of a supplementary fund that supports and helps them be financially secure, when battling the virus.
AIA will also provide free life insurance coverage to the staff of these hospitals worth Rs.500,000 in the unfortunate event of a death due to contracting COVID-19. These benefits will be provided to all doctors, nurses, paramedics and other support staff at these hospitals which are fully dedicated to the treatment of COVID-19 patients. The offer will be valid until July 10, 2020 and will be considered for extension, if required.
Mr. Advani said, “We recognize the sacrifices made by these medical staff in their line of duty and as a leader in life insurance in Sri Lanka, we want to thank them for their selfless and tireless efforts. AIA had been working with the Base Hospital Homagama to donate protective gear and equipment to their medical staff, but we wanted to do more. That is why, we reached out to the Ministry of Health with this proposal.”
Minister of Health and Indigenous Medical Services Ms. Wanniarachchi commented, “We thank AIA Insurance for coming forward to provide financial security to our medical staff and appreciate their gesture at this hour of need. It will make the staff at IDH, Mulleriyawa and Welikanda hospitals feel appreciated for the hard work they put in day and night and let them know that the community is deeply grateful for their great efforts.”