Partnerships key for health sector

Herald Correspondent
Government should create an enabling environment for Public Private Partnerships in the health sector for citizens to access improved medical care, Private Hospitals Association of Zimbabwe (PHAZ) has said.

Addressing delegates at the just ended Association of Health Care Funders of Zimbabwe Stakeholders’ conference held in Victoria Falls, PHAZ chairperson Mrs Merissa Kambani said government hospitals in neighbouring countries worked so well because of the existence of the partnerships.

“The government hospitals in our neighbouring countries work so well. You can get an equally good service from a public institution which cannot be compared to the same service when you go into our local public institutions.

“So when you look at the costs of a Public Private Partnership hospital in South Africa where the costs are heavily subsidised by nature of it being a PPP then you want to compare with Zimbabwe in terms of pricing, definitely the costs will not be the same and at the same time we cannot ignore the state of our economy,” she said.

Mrs Kambani said local prices were justified.

“I want to believe medical societies locally are not charging to make huge profits. They must be thinking of how to remain in business, but within acceptable mark ups for them to earn or have a surplus.

“I would like to believe that medical societies abroad are not cheap, but what is making them cheap are their economies hence saying local hospitals are overcharging will be a wrong perception,” she said. Reports suggest that some Zimbabweans living in border towns seek medical insurance in other countries.

“It is really worrying that patients will go beyond our borders to seek medical insurance when we do have very competent medical insurance in the country. This goes back to the issue of costs.

“Of course if you compare the costs for these countries and those for Zimbabwe we seem to be weighed out, but we need to take into consideration the economic environment our institutions are currently operating in,” said Mrs Kambani.

The conference heard how some Zimbabweans were seeking medical insurance in countries like South Africa, Botswana and Zambia where subscriptions are low.

Health and Child Care Minister Dr David Parirenyatwa is on record urging companies to form Public Private Partnerships with Government to resuscitate the underfunded healthcare sector.