From left: Director Operations Duncan Nugawela, Director Technical Dr. Jagath Alwis, Head of Finance Nihal Peiris, CEO Ajith Gunawardena, Managing Director Patrick Alwis, Ceylinco insurance PLC Chairman Godwin Perera and Director Rex Gunathilake. Pic by Kushan Pathiraja

By Zahara Zuhair
From this week (15th) onwards Ceylinco VIP On The Spot policy holders could enjoy the benefit of Rs.1 million cover on medical, which is introduced as a new innovation to the existing motor insurance policy.

“This scheme we are going to introduce along with the motor policy is to cover you from all serious illnesses, if you are a policy holder. Starting from cancer then going into heart diseases and more,” Ceylinco General Insurance CEO Ajith Gunawardena said. 

This new cover will be valid for new policies, while existing policy holders will be entitled to this new benefit from the date of their next renewal. 

Out of the 21 illnesses, kidney failure, major organ transplants, chronic lung, liver diseases, deafness, paralysis are some of the illnesses that would reimburse medical costs incurred in the treatment. 
As Sri Lanka does not have a national insurance scheme unlike other countries, Gunawardena said that through this introduction locals could enjoy that benefit be it in a private hospital or a government hospital.

“Considering ever increasing medical costs, this benefit will undoubtedly ease the financial burden on our customers to a great extent. Policy holders of motor insurance will have a cover up to Rs.100,000 of their hospital bills.

So that’s a great thing because our society doesn’t have a national insurance scheme,” he said. However, he noted that pre- existing illnesses will not be covered under this product. 
With Ceylinco VIP enjoying the major share of the vehicle insurance market, most Sri Lankan users will be entitled to this benefit, he added. 

He also noted with Ceylinco On The Spot’s success in Sri Lanka as well as in their overseas markets,  they are trying to bring the time down to 25 minutes when reaching an accident site in any part of the country, which takes 27 minutes at present. Managing Director Patrick Alwis said that comprehensive motorcycle and three-wheeler policy holders will be entitled to a cover of Rs. 100,000 and third party customers too will benefit with a cover of Rs.100,000 under this product. 

In the case of individual customers, the insured will be entitled to this benefit, while corporate customers or fleet owners must name an individual as beneficiary. For individual customers with more than one vehicle, the spouse or immediate family members could be named as beneficiaries, it was noted.

Further, it was shared that seeing a 22 percent growth in the first six months of this year, compared to the same period last year, their expectation is to grow up to 30 percent by end of this year. 

Ceylinco VIP, which was introduced in 2003, is one of the most comprehensive vehicle insurance policies available in Sri Lanka, offering several additional benefits such as ‘on the spot’ settlement of claims and a similar replacement vehicle for repairs that exceed four days, a Rs. 4 million emergency hospitalization insurance cover and personal accident cover up to Rs. 200,000 for each passenger. 
It was noted that currently they have their products in seven countries including Bahrain, Qatar, Mauritius, Maldives, etc.