Govt nods forming insurance co to cover all public employees

The government has approved the formation of an independent insurance company with the aim to bring all public employees under insurance coverage.

The Ministry of Public Administration will form the company, which will be under the Bangladesh Employees Welfare Board.

In this regard, the ministry in a letter has sought the opinion of secretaries, divisional commissioners, deputy commissioners, and upazila nirbahi officers by 27 August.

According to the letter, the Bangladesh Employee Welfare Board Act has provisions to form a separate insurance company for government employees.

All information regarding the provision was presented in a board meeting on 15 February.

In the meeting, the necessity and rationale of forming an independent insurance company, proposals received from Jiban Bima Corporation, and advantages and disadvantages were reviewed in detail.

At the meeting, an in-principle approval was given to form an independent insurance company and the appointment of a person or organisation expert in insurance as a consultant for this purpose.

Following the approval, a proposal to form the insurance company was sent to the Ministry of Public Administration, which now has asked for the opinion of those concerned.

The ministry said it is necessary to take the opinions of all government entities and stakeholders because the matter concerns all central and field-level government officials and employees.

However, to establish a new insurance company, approval is needed from the Financial Institutions Division of the Ministry of Finance.

Previous efforts

A similar decision to bring all government employees under insurance coverage was taken in the previous term of the Awami League government. 

This insurance was planned to be done by the government's insurance company Bangladesh Jiban Bima Corporation.

At that time it was decided that every employee and a maximum of six members of their families would get insurance benefits. These six members included the spouse, two children and parents or in-laws. 

However, the plan did not materialise in the end. 

The idea resurfaced again in 2020 during the Covid-19 period but was halted after the Ministry of Finance feared huge spending on premiums. 

Later, the government announced one-time financial assistance to the families of government officers and employees who died due to Covid while on duty.