Insurance coverage for doctors necessary

The Fiji Medical and Dental Secretariat said mishaps can and do happen in the practice of medicine and indemnity insurance provides an avenue and right to redress to a patient.

This follows concerns raised by some doctors in relation to the condition set that professional indemnity insurance is a mandatory requirement for a doctor to obtain an Annual Practicing License under the current laws.

The Secretariat’s Chief Executive Officer, Dharmesh Prasad said these private doctors who are running a business should know that insurance is a necessary component of business expertise.

He said a Lautoka High Court judgment in February last year ruled in favour of a patient who was awarded $410,400.

Prasad asked the question if the doctor can afford to fork out this amount of money from his own pocket.

He said if doctors have indemnity insurance, they have a safety net and are protected in such circumstances.

Prasad said the possibilities of being sued these days are quite high.

He said there have been cases where private doctors have been sued successfully or out of court settlements have been reached.

These doctors were fortunate if they had indemnity insurance.


Story by: Vijay Narayan