The National Health Insurance Company (NHIC) has launched an SMS service for beneficiaries of the national health insurance scheme (Seha) as part of efforts to prevent misuse of the scheme. 


A text message will be sent to any member visiting any of the clinics or hospitals included in the Seha provider network to verify that his/ her medical request has been received successfully, NHIC has said. “This service is to build up on “Be Our Eyes Campaign” that was launched last February, aiming to reveal any potential fraud or abuse. This SMS is considered to be one of the tools to detect such activity; in case the receiver of this SMS did not visit the medical facility, we urge them to report immediately to our customer service call center,” said an NHIC statement.



Currently the scheme covers all citizens and will be expanded to expatriates by the end of next year. The Seha provider network currently includes 207 clinics and hospitals in the public and private sectors. Faleh Hussain, acting CEO, said to local dailies that the NHIC has been receiving a number of complaints against service providers as well as the Seha beneficiaries. Majority of the complaints are about the poor services of the healthcare providers. The company also received complaints from service providers against Seha members, mostly related to misuse of the services.