Source: Psmas under the cosh – DailyNews Live
Bridget Mananavire 9 July 2017
HARARE – Premier Service Medical Aid Society (Psmas) is suffering a myriad
problems – decreased membership, legal battles and a general lack of
confidence in the society’s card.
On its end, its debtors are also not remitting payments, resulting in the
society being owed over $120 million, with a huge chunk of it being owed
by the broke Zimbabwean government.
The happenings at Psmas and the supposed demise of it has angered members
who are complaining about the dearth of quality service at medical
facilities when using a Psmas card.
“In 2011, my wife gave birth through caesarean section, in 2017 we had
another baby, we went through the same process and then I had to pay
almost $1 500 on top. And you say that we should smile and you are doing
good, the services that we are getting are poor and your leadership leaves
a lot to be desired,” a Psmas member Tendai Chirawu said as he addressed
the board and other members at the Annual General Meeting recently.
“The reason why people are getting away (renouncing membership) is not
only because of the financial climate but it is also because Psmas has now
become a laughing stock. The only tablets that you get in a pharmacy are
paracetamols. There are two things that must happen, it’s either Psmas
must close or the board should just go.”
Other members also complained that unlike before they were now unable to
purchase drugs using the Psmas medical aid card, as most pharmacies were
no longer accepting it.
Psmas board chair Jeremiah Bvirindi said among other problems bedevilling
the medical insurer is its income which had gone down by $8 million due to
a reduced subscriber base.
“The society continues to grow its public sector membership as not all
civil servants are covered on medical aid and thus, continue to join
monthly. However, private sector performance has not fared as well with
company closures and income reduction meaning members either downgrade to
lower schemes or withdraw from medical aid completely,” Bvirindi said
recently.
“Resultantly, the subscription income went down from $250 million to $242
million. The cash flow remained subdued during the year with only 70
percent of the subscription income being realised as cash by the society.
This saw the amount owed to the society increasing.”
Furthermore, the society which is heavily subscribed by civil service had
to cancel about $20 in million debt.
“An amount $19,7 million was provided for against the government of
Zimbabwe’ (`government’) employer contribution as it was in excess of the
amount approved in the government’s budget allocation for civil service
insurance in 2016,” the financial statements read.
Bvirindi said they were still going to pursue the debt to make sure they
recover the money.
This, however, comes as the Public Service minister Prisca Mupfumira
revealed that government said it will not be settling its Psmas debt any
time soon as they are other competing commitments, has said.
The issue came about during a question and answer session in the National
Assembly, after former Health deputy minister and Gutu South
representative Paul Chimedza asked how far government had gone in settling
the debt to ensure that the country’s health service providers were not
compromised.
“The issue of Premier Medical Service – it is not the only service
provider that has not been paid. We are aware of the current liquidity
challenges and I am not here to say it will be today or tomorrow,”
Mupfumira said.
“I have other equally important issues which require the minister of
Finance and Economic Development, hence I have said I will follow through
to find out the latest status on the issue.”
Recent reports indicate that the Zanu PF government debt to the health
insurer has ballooned to over $300 million, with over 800 000 civil
servants constituting the bulk of Psmas members.
Chimedza said as a result of government’s failure to pay the insurer, the
country’s health system was crumbling.
“Service providers to Public Service are owed over a $150 million.
Hospitals and pharmacies have been closed and laboratories are
struggling. We are losing jobs in that sector and we are creating jobs
for Indians. People are now moving to India because we are starving our
own system with the money that we owe.
“When are we going to settle the bill for Premier Service Medical Aid
Society so that we capacitate them to pay service providers and then we
bring our private health system up to scratch?”, he queried.
The medical insurer is also under investigation from the Zimbabwe
Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) which was looking into the society’s
policies and systems as they need reformation.
“Zacc is going to conduct a systems audit at this institution and
investigate how Psmas formulates and adopts its policies. As Zacc we
acknowledge that indeed public funds were abused at Psmas that’s why
investigations are on-going.
“Zacc takes its mandate seriously of investigating and exposing cases of
alleged corruption in Zimbabwe and come up with tangible results so as to
inculcate the public’s confidence in the organisation,” Zacc chairperson
public education and publicity commissioner Farai Chinyani said recently.
Zacc is also still investigation Psmas former executive Cuthbert Dube-who
was fired in 2014 over allegations of abuse of office, abuse of public
funds, money laundering as well as tax evasions and other crimes.
Dube was fired in 2014 following revelations of his hefty salary – he had
been Psmas boss since 1992.
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