adminMany women were, before this decision, dying while giving birth at home because they could not afford maternity fees. Many of these women were forced to seek the services of traditional midwives who however, found it difficult to deal with complications. Many hospitals reported last year that they had complied with the Government directive to provide free maternity services. Some of these hospitals are reportedly losing an average of $2 000 a day in revenue following the scrapping of the maternity fees.
Under the new arrangement, Government is supposed to reimburse the hospitals for providing free maternity services. We therefore do not understand why hospitals continue to detain mothers or deny them their babies’ birth confirmation records for non- payment of maternity fees. The same hospitals we understand are already being reimbursed by Government yet they are making mothers pay. Justice for Children Trust said an average of 20 cases of either detained mothers or those denied birth confirmations by Bulawayo hospitals and clinics were reported to the organisation every month.
The Trust’s child protection and development officer, Mr Admire Mandizvidza, said it was disturbing that while Government had made significant progress in making health institutions accessible to the majority of people, some authorities were frustrating these efforts.
“There have been campaigns to encourage pregnant women to register and give birth at either clinics or hospitals after Government scrapped the user fees. The disturbing development however, is that health institutions here in Bulawayo are either detaining the mothers or withholding birth confirmation records for non-payment of maternity fees,” said Mr Mandizvidza.
He said most of the cases reported were from United Bulawayo Hospitals, Mpilo Central Hospital and council clinics. The UBH chief executive officer Mrs Nonhlanhla Ndlovu has however, denied that mothers are detained or refused birth confirmation records for non-payment of maternity fees. She said the hospital had fully complied with the Government directive to scrap maternity fees. Mrs Ndlovu however, expressed concern at delays in reimbursing the hospital after offering free maternity fees. She said at times it takes Government up to three months to reimburse the hospital and this put strain on the hospitals’ limited resources.
It is important for Mrs Ndlovu to check with her maternity wing to ensure mothers are not detained for non-payment of fees as there could be some overzealous members of staff still implementing the old system of making the mothers pay for maternity fees. There is no reason for Mr Mandizvidza to single out UBH and Mpilo Central Hospital among the institutions still detaining mothers or refusing them birth confirmation records if these institutions are no longer doing that. We totally agree with Mrs Ndlovu that there is need for Government to reimburse the hospitals on time so that they continue to provide free maternity services. The hospitals should stop forthwith detaining mothers or denying them birth confirmation records. Expectant mothers should continue to enjoy free maternity services and as already alluded to, Government should reimburse hospitals on time so that the free service is not compromised.
Online Reporter