Baku, Azerbaijan, April 20
By Anvar Mammadov – Trend:
The introduction of compulsory insurance of doctors' professional responsibility in Azerbaijan is primarily aimed at protecting interests of the population, insurance expert Khayal Mammadkhanli told Trend.
He believes that the introduction of this type of insurance will also positively impact the insurance market.
"The introduction of compulsory insurance of doctors' professional responsibility will certainly have a positive impact on Azerbaijan's insurance market. Maybe, it will not give such a boost to the market as the compulsory insurance of vehicle owners' liability (OSAGO), but will surely give impetus for its development. Firstly, it will be aimed at protecting interests of the population and improvement of medical services in the country, "Mammadkhanli said.
The expert noted that this issue has been on the agenda for a long period, however several obstacles exists for its realization in Azerbaijan.
"This has been proposed long before, and I personally stood for compulsory insurance of doctors' professional responsibility. There are hundreds of victims of a medical mistakes in Azerbaijan, and unfortunately they can not protect their rights until today. The main problem is that Azerbaijan does not have specific procedures and rules for check-up and treatment. Theretofore, during the court trial it is impossible to find out whether there was made a medical mistake during the treatment. In general, it would be great if professional liability insurance as a whole would be mandatory, but I agree that doctors need to be involved in this first of all," he said.
Mammadkhanli stressed that first of all, it is necessary to develop procedures and rules for check-up and treatment, after which it is possible to talk about the introduction of compulsory insurance of doctors' professional responsibility.
"The Health Ministry should take this step. Following this, it would be possible to talk about the introduction of this type of insurance. As for the control, most likely this will be responsibility of the Compulsory Insurance Bureau of Azerbaijan. However, but I do not think that it will require a special base, as in case of OSAGO. It would be enough to integrate the Health Ministry's existing base of medical personnel into the Bureau, "Mammadkhanli said.
The issue of compulsory insurance of doctors' professional responsibility was discussed at a meeting of the relevant working group of the Azerbaijani Insurer's Association.
Presently, insurance of professional responsibility in Azerbaijan is carried out on a voluntary basis.
According to the data of Azerbaijan’s Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FIMSA), fees for this type of insurance amounted to 847,600 manats in the first quarter of 2018.
No payment for this type of insurance was carried out in the first quarter of 2018.
($1 = 1.7 AZN on April 20).