A new health insurance scheme, Social Health Insurance Scheme, which will cover all Maldivians and is being prepared by the Social Security Ministry will be put into service next month, the Ministry has said. Thoriq Ali, who had been given the task of coming up with a new health insurance scheme after the scheme that was supposed to insure all Government employees and was backed by the Government had failed earlier, said that the new scheme would come into effect in phases. He said that the first phase would cover those who had been removed from Government posts after reaching 65 years in age and those Government employees who currently do not have any insurance. "Providing the service to over 350,000 people at once will be a difficult task,' Thoriq, who is also the Assistant Director of the Airports Company, said. "That is why it has been divided into phases and the first phase is about to begin in the formal sectors. That is because it will be easier to list the people who require the services in this sector.' He said that people included under the category of "those without insurance' are those people who are not registered with Allied Insurance or any other insurance service. He said those in the Government sector who currently have insurance will not be covered. Thoriq said that preparations were going ahead at a very fast pace to ensure the service would be launched by the end of August. The requirement for using the service would be a National ID card, he said. "In order to provide the service, many hospitals, clinics, pharmacies and other centres will register with us,' Thoriq said. "Patients will be able to take advantage of the services provided as per the agreement we have with the places. They will know upon submission of the ID cards whether the person has insurance or not and what services they are eligible for.' Thoriq did not reveal the amount for which a person can be insured or how much the person was eligible for per year. He said that the final draft of the service was being prepared and that a value would be revealed in a week's time. "Currently the scheme will not support those who are seeking treatment abroad,' he said. "This will work very similar to how social welfare had been working before. Even so, that will not be closed down once this new scheme is introduced.' Thoriq also said that since President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom had said that fishermen would also be included in the Social Health Insurance Scheme, they had instructed the Fisheries Ministry to list the all the fishermen to be covered by the scheme. The Social Security Ministry said that a campaign to create awareness about the new health insurance scheme will be launched during the beginning of next month.