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Paidamoyo Chipunza Senior Health Reporter
The Zimbabwe Medical Association (ziMA) yesterday said it was only accepting nine medical aid societies who had shown commitment to paying service providers within the mandatory 60 days.

The seven are Liberty Health, MASCA, Cellmed, Cimas, Generation Health, First Mutual and Northern Medical Aid societies.

According to ziMA, Liberty Health and Masca were complying with the gazetted tariff, while Cellmed had just started paying doctors using the gazetted tariff.

CIMAS, Generation Health, First Mutual, and Northern Medical Aid were compliant with the 60-day time-frame, but were not compliant to the gazetted tariff.

ziMA said health insurance companies that are not domiciled in Zimbabwe such as BUPA and Discovery were all compliant with both the gazetted tariff and the 60-day rule.

“ziMA has not received evidence of full or partial compliance about those health insurance companies that are not on this list.

“The list will be updated as more evidence is availed,” wrote ziMA secretary-general Dr Shingi Bopoto to fellow doctors last night.

“It is the recommendation of ziMA that members can accept health cards issued by the above- listed health insurance companies,” further wrote Dr Bopoto.

He said the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development was also working on alternative ways of settling the outstanding tax obligations from ziMA members.

Dr Bopoto, however, said Government still needs to enforce existing legislation, which compels health funders to pay service providers within 60 days at a gazetted tariff.

He also said Government needs to speed up the process of establishing an independent regulatory board of health insurance.

He said Government also needs to address the contentious issue of medical aid societies that are also providing health services to the people.

However, The Herald has learnt that other doctors continued accepting even medical aid cards not on the ziMA recommended list.

A specialist surgeon who spoke on condition of anonymity said he cannot afford to deny treatment to his long-time patients.

“I have some sort of a relationship with some of my patients whom I have been assisting for years now, and I cannot just abandon them just like that. It’s unfortunate, it might seem as if I am betraying the association, but I cannot also betray my patients,” said the doctor.

Michael Gelfand Clinic was also accepting all medical aid cards.

Speaking at a meeting held to discuss the state of the health delivery system in Zimbabwe yesterday, director of pathology services in the Ministry of Health and Child Care Dr Maxwell Hove, said the ministry was still guided by Statutory Instrument 330 of 2000, which stipulates that all doctors must treat patients holding a valid medical aid card and that all funders must reimburse service providers within 60 days.

He, however, said the statutory instrument was inadequate to address the current impasse between medical aid societies and service providers, hence the need to speed up the Medical Aid Regulatory Authority.

Dr Hove said the layman principles of the Bill had since been crafted and had been handed over to the Attorney-General’s Office for drafting.