What is the ruling on a doctor working in the public or private sector in a country where only commercial insurance is available, taking into account the following considerations: whether enrollment in commercial insurance is compulsory or voluntary, the doctor contracting with the commercial insurance system to avoid loss, signing insurance forms to enable patients to reclaim their expenses, and signing prescriptions for medications and analyses for patients they have not examined, or adding medications that the patient has previously purchased, or that the patient needs, or for poor patients who are not enrolled in insurance? Is it permissible to rely on asking the patient about their right before signing insurance forms? And is it advisable to seek another profession besides medicine?
Commercial insurance is forbidden because it involves gharar (excessive uncertainty), gambling, and maysir (games of chance). It is only permissible if it is compulsory, and the sin of the insurance falls upon whoever made it compulsory. As for a doctor in the government sector, there is no impediment to his working there due to the presence of commercial insurance. In the private sector, he is not permitted to enter into a commercial insurance contract except out of dire necessity, which ceases once the necessity is gone or an Islamic alternative becomes available. However, a doctor signing prescriptions for patients he has not examined, or adding medications the patient does not need, is not permissible because it leads to taking money unjustly.
Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026
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