Insurance company asked to pay claims

Alvi orders SLICP to form body to assess health of proposed policyholders

ISLAMABAD:

President Dr Arif Alvi has directed the State Life Insurance Corporation of Pakistan (SLICP) to pay an insurance claim worth Rs0.3m along with a profit to the family members of a deceased policyholder, who had not been paid for almost three years.

The president further asked the SLICP to form a panel of doctors to devise a policy on pre-insurance tests of proposed policyholders. The president gave these directions while rejecting a representation filed by SLICP against the order of the Wafaqi Mohtasib.

President Secretariat Press Wing said in a statement on Sunday that Saad Taheer, the complainant, had alleged that his father had purchased a life insurance policy from the entity in 2013 with an annual premium of Rs18,406. His father died in 2020, and he filed the death insurance claim which was repudiated by SLICP on the ground that the deceased had a pre-insurance ailment of hepatitis C, which he had deliberately hidden.

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He approached the Wafaqi Mohtasib which asked SLICP to reconsider the matter and provide appropriate relief to the nominees of the deceased policyholder. SLICP, then, filed a representation with the President against Mohtasib’s order.

The president held a hearing on the matter, and after listening to both sides, gave his decision. He also advised that the company might devise a risk assessment about different diseases.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 6^th, 2023.