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Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals is violating Government policy by making the elderly, children under the age of five and those referred by the Department of Social Welfare pay for certain medical procedures, it has been established.Officials at the hospital confirmed yesterday that they were now making such patients pay against Government policy that they should not pay.
The officials attributed the changes to “limited financial resources” that have made it difficult for the referral hospital to buy consumables required in medical procedures.
“While we respect the policy, in some instances the hospital might not have consumables to use in certain procedures, hence the request to patients to pay to enable the operation to take place,” the Parirenyatwa’s spokesperson Ms Jane Dadzie.
“We might have the machines, but with no consumables the operations will not be possible.”
Ms Dadzie said should Treasury disburse allocations as requested, there would be no need for children under the age of five, the elderly who are over 65 years and those with referral letters from the Department of Social Welfare to fail to access free health services.
She said the hospital had been struggling to make ends meet with the limited resources having made available by Treasury to keep services going.
Health and Child Care permanent secretary Dr Gerald Gwinji said Government policy had not changed in terms of access to health services for the elderly, children and patients referred by social welfare.
But he said some hospitals were charging for certain services for them to keep operations going.
Dr Gwinji said Government hospitals were not getting enough money from the national budget to fund their operations.
“The policy has not changed, but sometimes the hospitals are constrained and need to come up with strategies of raising funds to fund their operations,” Dr Gwinji said.
Patients interviewed at the hospital expressed concern with the new development, saying they would be negatively affected.
“The situation will see those who cannot afford to pay for health services only accessing consultation, but fail to get the actual treatment because of the cost factor,” said 69-year-old Ms Regina Matutu.
“Operations are much more expensive and they are the ones which should be for free instead of consultation.”
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