Patients paying extra fees to get treated in govt hospitals

Harare - Patients seeking specialists' medical treatment in public institutions are getting a raw deal from private surgeons who volunteer their services in government hospitals, but end up demanding fees that they charge at their private surgeries, the state controlled ZBC News reported on Monday.

This has been attributed to a shortage of specialists doctors like orthopaedic surgeons in public institutions.

A visit to Ward 3 at Chitungwiza Hospital revealed that most of the patients detained in that ward are waiting for surgery, yet the hospital does not have a permanent orthopaedic surgeon to carry out the operations.

The patients, most of whom have bone fractures that require immediate surgery, have been admitted for some time, but are still to be operated on as the waiting list is long.

It is not a secret in the ward that those who have managed to raise extra fees for the private doctor have been given preferential treatment and have since been discharged yet those who fail to raise the amount have to endure the long wait.

Chitungwiza Hospital acting chief executive, Dr Edward Tadross, confirmed that the hospital does not have a permanent orthopaedic surgeon.

He however said he has not received any complaints from patients who are being asked to pay extra fees for surgeries.

The problem is not limited to Chitungwiza Hospital alone as most government institutions are facing the same predicament.

Observers have noted that the arrangement at public institutions where the government is allowing private doctors to come and treat patients under the public sector set up is commendable, but challenges are arising when the doctors start giving first preference to patients who pay extra charges for surgeries.