What Parirenyatwa said about the doctors and medical aid societies debacle- Full debate in Parliament

 HON. MARIDADI:  I was worried because it was too long in coming Mr. Speaker Sir.  I want to draw the Minister’s attention to a number of issues.  Firstly, can you explain to us the cost structure of health delivery in Zimbabwe in relation to other countries?  I say this because I have heard that the health delivery cost in Zimbabwe is very high as compared to other countries.  I would like the Hon Minister to address that.

Secondly, I also want to refer the Hon. Minister to issues of anti-trust laws and conflict of interest as well as competition because when the Minister gave his statement, he raised a number of contentious issues.  One of them is that there are preferred service providers by health insurers and those health providers are the people who own those health provision facilities.  That is a matter that was raised by the Minister and was also raised in my interview with the doctors.  I would like the Minister to address that.  My solution however is that, because there is disagreement on the tariff to be paid by the insurers and tariff that doctors accept, can you not then find specialists like actuaries who can look at the tariff and come up with a win-win situation for both the doctors, medical insurers and the general public.  There are so many people that are keen to help the Ministry in this country.

Lastly, the people that I am talking about are players in a football match.  The most important person in a football match is the man in the middle, the referee who in this case is the Minister.  With all due respect, Minister, you must always be on the ball.  We do not want the situation to deteriorate.

THE HON. SPEAKER:  Order, order Hon. Member, just a minor reminder.  Our Standing Orders advise that we refer to the Ministers as Hon. Ministers all the time.  Thank you.

 HON. MARIDADI:  The Hon. Minister is the most important person in this whole issue because he is the referee in terms of gazetting tariffs, adherence to the tariffs and calling to order those that disregard tariffs.  The Hon Minister is the man in the middle and he must continue to play his role.  Thank you Hon. Minister, Dr. Parirenyatwa.

HON. MUNENGAMI:  Thank you Hon. Speaker Sir.  Just to remind you that it is Munengami and not Muvengami.

 THE HON. SPEAKER:  Oh ndicharipa.

 HON. MUNENGAMI:  Mondisimudzawo kakawanda musi wechitatu semuripo wacho. – [ Laughter.] –  Thank you Hon. Speaker.  I also want to thank the Hon. Minister, Dr. Parirenyatwa for the statement.  I, however, want him also to take note that because of the bad relationship which has arisen between the doctors and the medical aid societies, the situation has reached a point where the percentage which the medical aid societies are paying to the doctors – I will give an example of PSMAS.  They may have received 1% from Government and instead of them paying 1% to the doctors in a balanced and fair manner, they have reached a stage where they just pay their preferred doctors instead of ensuring that each and every doctor gets the same amount.  Currently, what is happening is that if there are two doctors at a certain place, one doctor is paid by the same service provider while the other one is not paid.  This has reached a stage where those doctors that are not being paid have to pay like 10% for them to get their own payment.  This is the situation as we speak.  So, I think it really needs your urgent intervention.  I just wanted him to take note of that Mr. Speaker Sir.

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