Private hospitals demand co-payments

Patients on medical aid seeking treatment at private hospitals are now required to pay co-payments following an increase by at least 20 percent on all medical costs by some institutions, The Herald reported.

Although these new tariffs have not yet been agreed on between hospitals and medical aid societies as stipulated by the law, some institutions in Harare and Bulawayo started implementing them with effect from August 1, leaving patients to meet the 20 percent increase in co-payments and shortfalls.

In Harare, some institutions have increased general practitioner's consultation fees from $25 up to $45. In such instances, it means a patient on medical aid will be required to pay $20 as co-payment. Admission in the high dependency unit has also been revised up from $145,55 to $175,55, while admission in a two-bedded ward has gone up from $112,75 to $142,75 a night. Similarly, the difference will be borne by patients as shortfalls.

In Bulawayo, other institutions have increased medical costs by 20 percent across all their health services. Ordinary consultation fees has gone up from $36,75 to $44,10, while emergency consultations such as accident victims are now required to pay $64,26 up from $53,55.

Pregnant women are now paying $115,92 for a single normal delivery. Information gathered by The Herald shows that these increases followed a proposal by the Private Hospitals Association of Zimbabwe to increase medical costs by 25 percent across the board. In an interview with The Herald yesterday, PHAZ secretary Mr Keith Kalweit said their 25 percent proposal was necessitated by the continued shortage of foreign currency in the country, general cost of inflation since 2014 when the current costs were last gazetted and the need to match salaries of their staff with those in the public health sector.

"We engaged the Association of Healthcare Funders of Zimbabwe (AHFoZ) with our proposal to increase medical costs to cushion ourselves from the current operating environment and we have a meeting scheduled to take place this Friday regarding that issue," said Mr Kalweit.

"We are hoping this meeting will produce tangible results so that patients are not asked to make co-payments and huge shortfalls." Mr Kalweit said they had not yet instructed their members to increase medical costs, but those that have since increased have done so at their own decision.

"It is important to note that the last fee increase was effected in 2014 through a Government gazette and a lot of things have now changed on the ground," he said. AHFoZ chief executive officer Mrs Shylet Sanyanga confirmed that they were indeed in negotiations with the PHAZ regarding the new tariffs.

"Yes, we are engaging with the PHAZ on the proposed new tariffs," she said without giving much information. Medical aid societies and health service providers are expected to agree on a common medical tariff so that patients on medical aid do not pay co-payments or shortfalls. For years, the two parties have been failing to agree on a common tariff resulting in instigation of a scientific tariff-work that is still in progress.