Disability insurance still alien to India

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Keywords: Unborn Babies, Insurance

New Delhi: Rahul (name changed) was abandoned at an orphanage in New Delhi four years back. The reasons are obvious - he is disabled.

Hundreds of babies like him are deserted every year by parents who can make no place in their lives for disabled children.

In India there are at least four companies that have insurance policies for unborn children that covers them for disability after birth. But unfortunately, there are few takers.

AGM, New India Assurance Company H P Singh says, "There is a policy that we offer that protects children against disabilities, but we have sold very few because Indian parents are very superstitious by nature and they think that by going in for a policy like this would mean bad luck."

Insurance scheme has been around since 1987. But to date, they have hardly

sold more than 200 policies.

The policy offers an insurance of Rs 75,000 for a one time premium of Rs 1,500. And the policy covers a range of disabilities for new born babies from lung and heart defect to physical disabilities.

However, parents like Pooja and Pankaj Sharma who have just had baby Ananya are

not convinced that such policies do expectant parents any good.

"There is such a positive energy all around when you're expecting a baby. The last thing you need is a policy like this to put that seed of thought in your mind that some thing might go wrong," says Pankaj Sharma.

Paediatricians are stunned are what they call a typical situation where superstition prevails over logic especially since treating disability in children runs into lakhs and a little monetary help would always be welcome.

With most parents unable to afford the expensive medical treatment, it's the children who have to pay the price.

To make matters worse, companies who offer such policies haven't made much of an effort to market them.

Says Paediatrician A K Gulati, "I think it is ridiculous to say that its bad luck because one in three live births are disabled children. Also these insurance companies need to approach doctors instead of parents because hardly any one knows about these policies"

There are lakhs of children who are born with some kind of disability every year in India. Their lives could have been much better if their parents had taken out a disabilty insurance.

But hope of new perfect life inevitably overrides caution. When shopping for coloured clothes for a baby to come, a disability insurance probably seems far too gloomy.