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with the Minister of Health and Child Welfare, Dr Henry Madzorera, yesterday saying he never sanctioned the move.
On the other hand, health institutions, which implemented the move following a Government directive two months ago, have expressed concern that they are incurring huge losses by providing free maternity services.
In a telephone interview, Dr Madzorera said the Government is yet to announce the scrapping of maternity fees.
“The Government is yet to scrap maternity fees. I think the best thing people can do is to wait for an announcement which will be done when the time is right.
“We have made progress in terms of raising funds through the Health Transition Fund (HTF), but it is pointless to talk about it when we are still planning,” he said.
Last month, Dr Madzorera said his Ministry had a budget of more than $430million for the next five years and had collected $59 million through HTF.
Despite Dr Madzorera saying he is still to announce the scrapping of maternity fees, the health institutions confirmed that they received circulars at the beginning of July from the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, ordering them to scrap the fees.
The health institutions said they had not received any funds from the Government to sustain the maternity services.
The Bulawayo City Council, according to a council report, said it was losing between $6 000 and $10 000 per month on maternity fees.
The local authority said it had not received adequate funding from Government to offer the services free of charge.
“The Director of Health Services, Dr Zanele Hwalima, confirmed that a letter had been received from the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, availing free services to maternity patients at municipal clinics and other provincial hospitals with effect from 5 July 2012.
“However, she alluded to the fact that the service would affect council revenue. The overall impact is that the council would incur losses of between $6 000 and $10 000 per month,” read the report.
The acting chief executive officer at Mpilo Central Hospital, Dr Wedu Ndebele, said the scrapping of maternity fees had made it more difficult for the hospital to cope with the extra expenses.
“The unavailability of budgeted funds from the Government, coupled with the scrapping of maternity fees, has made it more difficult to cope with the financial constraints. The situation would be better if the Government disburses the funds to cater for the expenses incurred in offering free maternity fees,” said Dr Ndebele.
He said the institution had since written to head office appealing for funds from the Government.
A senior official at the United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed that the institution had not received any money from the Government.
The official said the institution would not be able to sustain the Lady Rodwell Maternity Hospital and would be in serious financial problems if the Government failed to provide funds for them.
“We are providing free maternity fees as directed by the Government but it is unfortunate that we have not received any money to cater for the expenses. We are using the little available resources and this could cause a serious strain in the near future.
“The hospital was making more than $2 000 per day from antenatal care services which was going towards the administration of the department. We are now forced to use resources from other departments to continue offering the services for free,” said the official.
Pregnant women from the rural areas have appealed to the Government to implement the scrapping of maternity fees at district hospitals, saying they were still paying for the services, which a majority of them cannot afford.
Expecting mothers were paying $50 at council clinics and $65 at public hospitals for babies delivered through Caesarean operation.
Former Minister of Health and Child Welfare Dr Timothy Stamps said recently the Government’s decision to scrap maternity fees at State-run hospitals and clinics was a blunder as the move was not sustainable.
He said the move would worsen the country’s maternal mortality rate, which he said was already high.
Online Reporter