National Social Security Fund (NSSF) has said that members battling Covid-19 in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) will be given an option to access part of their benefits under the invalidity benefits provision.
Richard Byarugaba, the NSSF Managing Director, told Daily Monitor that the Fund had already helped some members in this regard. However, he did not provide specifics on how many members had approached NSSF in this regard or how much had been paid out.
“It is an invalidity benefit. Basically, it is a benefit which is available to members who are either incapacitated or are not able to work. And since we have seen that Covid-19 can sometimes result in serious medication, the [NSSF doctor] assesses and then authorizes it [pay out],” he was quoted.
NSSF had earlier sent out a tweet responding to a twitter user Albert Mwebaze who on Wednesday tweeted: “With this sky rocketing costs of treating Covid. Isn’t about time people who are admitted are allowed to access their NSSF savings.”
Mr Byarugaba noted that the payout will purely be based on the discretion of the NSSF doctor, who after assessing submitted documents, will authorise the payout.
