National Health Insurance should not burden workers

Flora Fadzai Sibanda, [email protected]

THE labour sector says while it accepts the National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme, Government should consider other means of funding it instead of taxing the already overburdened workers.

This emerged during a stakeholders’ public hearing meeting organised by the Ministry of Health and Child Care in Bulawayo yesterday.

The National Health Insurance Scheme seeks to ensure that health services are accessible to all citizens in the country in line with Section 76 of the Constitution, which stipulates that every citizen and permanent resident of Zimbabwe has the right to access basic healthcare services.

Studies show that only 10 percent of Zimbabweans are on medical aid and as such 90 percent are without medical cover.

Similar to the National Social Security Authority (Nssa), which was established through an Act of Parliament, the NHI model seeks to have every person in formal employment contributing to the fund which will then be used to finance the public health system including buying essential drugs and equipment as well as building requisite infrastructure.

An NHI scheme is regarded as one of the best ways to achieve universal health coverage, which Zimbabwe is aiming for.

Experts say no country has made significant progress towards universal health coverage without relying on public funds to finance health care.

In his submission, National Energy Workers Union of Zimbabwe (Newuz) legal officer, Mr Talent Sibanda, said while labour fully supports the scheme, they do not want to lose more money because of it.

“Where will the money from this scheme come from? Because if it is from our hard earned money we will not accept it. As it is the labour sector is burdened by too many taxes, ” he said.

Mr Sibanda said introducing another tax even if it is one percent of what people are earning will be too much.
He said Government should consider other sources of revenue to fund the scheme as workers were already overburdened.

“Zimbabwe is a rich country as seen by the many people that want to come and partner with us. Government could fund this scheme using revenue from our minerals because we have a lot of minerals,” said Mr Sibanda.
Civic society representatives who attended the meeting said the scheme should clarify involvement of people living with mental health.

Mrs Grace Masuku who works at a local non-governmental organisation said the country is already overwhelmed with mental health-related illnesses yet it has not mainstreamed this need on the list of diseases to benefit from the scheme.

“Leaving mental health illnesses out is like leaving all the important issues, which we should be taking note of,” she said.

Mrs Masuku many people were grappling with mental health issues and the fund could be used to establish rehabilitation centres to help such people.
Ministry of Health and Child Care acting director, Mr Tonderai Kadzere said the NHI will be compulsory and will complement existing medical aid societies.

“We are looking at a pooled fund that will fund health care services for all citizens,” he said. — @flora_sibanda