PSMAS members angry and disappointed

BULAWAYO Premier Service Medical Aid Society members have reacted with anger and disappointment after learning that they have to fork out cash to receive treatment.

PSMAS interim manager Gibson Mhlanga on Monday said the move was aimed at preventing the society's debt to health service providers from ballooning and to avoid further litigation.

The medical aid society is being sued by a number of service providers for defaulting on settling claims.

More than 30 health providers have been instructed not to accept the society's medical aid packages.

Members in Bulawayo yesterday said they were stranded as there was no doctor or pharmacy that was accepting PSMAS cards.

A number said they had placed claims for reimbursement in December last year but the society had not refunded them.

They expressed dismay that the medical aid society continued collecting their contributions without providing a service.

Philip Ngwenya, 73, of Thorngrove suburb said PSMAS has been deducting $30 monthly from his salary and that of his wife, Margaret Ngwenya, 68, but they were forced to pay cash for medical services.

"On Monday I went to Day and Night pharmacy and when I was just about to purchase $30 worth of medication using the PSMAS medical aid card, they told me to pay cash. I didn't have money so I proceeded to another pharmacy," said Ngwenya.

"It was the same story at Lancaster pharmacy. Pharmacy officials said I had to pay cash and then approach PSMAS for reimbursement," he said.

Ngwenya told The Chronicle that even if he applies for reimbursement, PSMAS does not respond as they owe him $67, since January this year. He said PSMAS pharmacies had run out of drugs, forcing members to buy them elsewhere in cash.

"We're very angry because the society's medical aid executives failed to communicate this new move to us. We don't even know what happens to the monthly submissions we've been forking out over the years," said Ngwenya.

Another PSMAS member, Tobias Mvurwi, 60, of Kumalo suburb said he had been unsuccessfully trying to get $60 reimbursement since February this year.

"I tried for three months to get $60 I paid for my blood pressure medication but PSMAS hasn't been responding.

"I'm infuriated by the fact that I now have to pay cash yet they've been deducting $20 each month from my account without fail," said Mvurwi.

Another hypertension patient who is also afflicted with arthritis, Sinqobile Dube, said she has been paying about $100 cash every month for medication since January.

She said the money had become unsustainable as PSMAS has kept mum about reimbursements.

"If I don't take my medication I'll die. I can't afford to pay cash anymore because I'm a civil servant with other responsibilities," said Dube.

She said she was irked that the society kept issuing statements through the Press and had virtually ceased communicating with members. Dube said she is making arrangements to move to another medical aid society.

"Of course I'll be subjected to a waiting period before I get full benefits but at the moment, anything is better than PSMAS," she said.

Mhlanga could not be reached for comment as his phone was unreachable. PSMAS' problems have been largely blamed on the mega salaries which were being awarded to ousted chief executive officer Cuthbert Dube and his executives.

Dube was taking home more than $500,000 in salaries and allowances every month at a time the medical aid society was failing to pay health services providers and was accumulating debt.