OREANDA-NEWS. On 20 March 2009 was announced, that the management of ChTPZ Group prolonged the insurance agreement with Ingosstrakh to ensure voluntary health insurance (VHI) coverage to the employees of Chelyabinsk Pipe Mill (ChTPZ) and Pervouralsk Novotrubny Plant (PNTZ). The program covers almost all employees of the Group’s pipe enterprises.

The healthcare program for the employees of the plants includes compulsory out-patient care, emergency and scheduled in-patient care and rehabilitation services. The employees can recourse to any of the network plant health units and the Medical Center of ChTPZ and its branch in Pervouralsk with state-of-the-art treatment and diagnostic equipment.

Despite the effects of the economic crisis faced by the company at the end of last year, we made every possible effort to continue with the VHI benefits for the employees of the pipe plants, - notes Chairman of ChTPZ and PNTZ Boards of Directors Mr. Alexander Fedorov.

Even the stringent resource saving mode, the company believes VHI to be an indispensable component of its social responsibility commitments under the business strategy and continues to regard the financing of the VHI program as a long-term investment into the company’s human resources.

According to Director of the Voluntary Health Insurance Department of IJSC Ingosstrakh Mikhail Kipitaiko, today the employer’s decision to extend real insurance coverage and quality medical assistance is a serious support to the employees. ‘Speaking from Ingosstrakh’s experience of the recent months, we can conclude that the companies that have announced their social commitments continue to finance VHI services for their employees to the same extent as before the crisis’, he says.

VHI is one of the key social programs of ChTPZ Group that was launched in 2001 to preserve the heath of its employees, support their working capacity and improve overall efficiency. To improve the quality of the insurance system, the Group performs annual performance efficiency assessment of the program in place. The findings of the assessment are based on the statistical data collected across the Group and results of opinion polls among the employees.

ChTPZ is one of Russia’s leading metallurgical companies of Russia. In 2008, the share of the Group in the aggregate shipments by Russian producers reached 19.5%.