President Robert Mugabe, as the chief executive officer of this country, is to blame for the crisis between doctors and medical aid societies because he has failed to turn around the country’s economy, Binga North Member of Parliament Prince Dubeko Sibanda.
Blaming doctors or medical aid societies was missing the point, he said.
“When we look at these other three participants, that is Medical Aid Societies, the recipients of medical services and the doctors, they are all merely victims. When I am angry with the doctors, I am actually a victim who is angry against another victim,” he said.
“What we are seeing is just one of the many symptoms that are coming out showing what level of economic crisis we have got as a country. This is merely an issue of economic crisis. It is not about the conduct of the doctors or medical aid societies.
“Yes, some of the medical aid societies have misbehaved but not all of them. Some have tried to manage their finances properly but the economic environment is such that there are no good skills that can be applied for you to run a business properly. So what is the way forward?”
Sibanda said it was incumbent upon the government to address the issue but the only way it could do so was to redress the declining economy.
Once the economy was addressed medical aid societies would be able to pay doctors, doctors would be able to live properly and allow people with medical aid to access their services.
“As long as the economy is going downwards and sinking as it is, there is no miracle that is going to happen,” Sibanda said.
“I think the Chief Executive Officer has to wake up and know that this economy is dead and he should resuscitate it. It is his sole responsibility and none other than himself. The President is charged with the responsibility of ensuring that the economy of this country runs and where it stands right now, all macro-economic variables are indicating that there is nothing working in this country. The only macro-economic variables that are increasing are unemployment and poverty levels as everything else is declining.
“My recommendations are that when you fail you go out, when you fail you resign and let others do it. I am saying it does not need a rocket scientist to say that the Chief Executive Officer of this country has failed. It does not need a prophet to say that in terms of running the economy of this country because the primary responsibility of a government is to ensure that the economic and social welfare of its citizens are catered for…”
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