An Insurance facility is being started for expatriate workers, to be announced on Dec 19 by the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. She will hand over insurance policy to expatriates at a ceremony.
On Wednesday (Dec 11), Jibon Bima Corporation signed an agreement with the Wage Earners’ Welfare Board. However, workers of seven categories will not benefit. They will receive insurance money in case of death or the loss of a limb due to an accident.
There are two insurance policies for expatriates: one is for Tk 200,000 and the other for Tk 500,000. For Tk 200,000, the premium is Tk 990 and for Tk 500,000, it is Tk 2475.
For both plans, Wage Earners Welfare Board will give Tk 500 as premium and the rest will be taken from the expat worker through bank draft. Expatriate workers between the ages 18-58 will be able to take the policy for 2 years. As per policy, expat workers can increase the tenure of the insurance.
For this, the insurance letter has to be renewed every two years through the welfare board.
The insurance will not be effective if a worker commits suicide within 12 months of taking a policy or inflicts any self-harm, dies of HIV, dies after taking part in high-risk sports like scuba diving, motor racing, hand gliding, horse racing, boxing, mountaineering, or experiencing ill health before becoming a member of the wage earners’ board, dies due to addiction, dies for taking part in militant activity and is sentenced to death by the high court.
Explaining why such people would not get life cover, the managing director of Jibon Bima Corporation, Mahfuzul Haque, said: “There are other policies for these categories and the premium is very high.”
Minister for Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment, Imran Ahmed said: “For anyone working in a dangerous or conflict zone ,the premium is high. In these cases, we will ask people to consider other options.”
As per the policy of the insurance, if someone faces an accident or dies during the tenure of the insurance or within 90 days after expiry of policy, then s/he will get full coverage.
Insurance will also cover the severance of any limb or visual impairment of an expatriate worker. If someone loses leg from the ankle or a hand from the wrist then the coverage will be full. If THERE IS an injury from the thigh to the lower part of the leg or fingers are lost from the palm, then the coverage will be 25 percent.
For smaller accidents like the loss of a finger, the coverage is 10 per cent.
MD of Wage Earners’ Board, Gazi Mohammad Zulhas, says: “All information on expatriate workers will be stored in the BMET database. We will save the hard copy of the policy and workers can get soft copies online.”
Secretary of the Ministry, Selim Reza said: “When an expat worker submits papers, the welfare fee is also submitted and in addition to Tk 3500, another Tk 490 or Tk 1975 will have to be deposited through a bank draft.”