Medical aid societies have been accused of corruption, overcharging and misconduct amid calls for the regulation of their operations
Speaking at the Zimbabwe Medical Association (ZiMA) workshop on regulation of Health Insurance in Zimbabwe held in Harare on Monday, Member of Parliament for Matabeleland North, Ruth Labode who is also the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health and Child Care expressed great concern over corruption in the medical societies and medical doctors calling for the regulation of the sector to address such malpractices.
“Doctors are overcharging and there is a lot of misconduct. Medical Aid societies are using the money they get to empower and pay themselves heavy salaries,
“The idea of a regulation is that whoever is found guilty, there is a system to deal with them whether you are a service provider or funder,” expressed Labode.
In an interview with 263Chat, Zimbabwe Medical Association President, Agnes Mahomva said their decision to invite parliamentarians was for them to hear the challenges they have been facing as a sector.
“We met up with parliamentarians so they can hear our concerns and what they should be expecting in the upcoming public health bill,
“Providers and medical aid societies have continued to have this cat and mouse game that is spilling out into the media and yet we don’t have any solutions to it,
“We don’t have the solutions because there is no regulation of Medical Aid Societies, other medical professions are regulated but we don’t have a regulatory body that looks into medical aid societies,” said Mahomva.
She added that as the association, they are very much aware of the inconsistencies within the medical aid societies, calling on people to report these activities to the Medical and Dental Practitioners Council.
“We know there are people with issues and challenges, we hear from Medical Aid Societies that there are fraudulent activities, we say if they have them, they can report them to Medical and dental Practitioner’s council,
“But when we have the issues with Medical Aid societies, there is no one to report to, to regulate them, so our expectation is that this bill comes out strong with clarity so that there is proper regulation of the societies,” added Mahomva.
