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Rumbidzayi Zinyuke

Senior Health Reporter

Millions of Zimbabweans are still struggling to access health care owing to the rising cost of medical insurance and services that have been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic and the decline in economic activity in some sectors.

As a result, consumers, medical aid societies and health service providers have all felt the effects of the pandemic, which calls for targeted interventions by all stakeholders to come up with a sustainable solution.

A virtual meeting for health funders and healthcare providers on the Covid-19 shock held yesterday revealed that only 10 percent of Zimbabweans have medical insurance, of which a sizeable portion has been forced to either downgrade their medical aid packages or dump them as a result of the challenges.

Association of Health Funders of Zimbabwe (AHFoZ) chief executive Ms Shylet Sanyanga said the Covid-19 pandemic had resulted in disruption of subscriptions and processing of claims which had affected the performance of medical aid societies, particularly in the first quarter of 2020.

“Due to the economic slowdown from the time we started the first lockdown, business was subdued. Employer organisations started downsizing and we saw some employees downgrading their medical aid packages and others dropping off completely. There was a decline in use of services,” she said.

She admitted there had also been a distortion of pricing models initially as people were using speculative prices for Covid-19 treatment and PPEs.

“Covid-19 has strained the health sector in general and the medical aid industry in particular. It is high time we evaluate strategies and adapt to the new normal,” she said.

Premier Service Medical Aid Society acting managing director Dr Nixjoen Mapesa said the first lockdown implemented in March last year had a lot of negative impacts on the health sector. 

“We have seen high claims cost from a medical aid perspective largely due to the high cost of covering Covid-19,” he said.

Dr Mapesa said there were opportunities that the healthcare sector could take advantage of to resuscitate the local value chains like pooling of resources by all in the industry.

He said instead of the Government having lockdowns, they could consider zoning to allow communities to continue trading within their zones in line with government devolution strategy.

“We should also consider commissioning of medical researches into the efficacy of herbal remedies such as zumbani, bute, ginger, turmeric in the treatment of some ailments,” he said.

Consumer Council of Zimbabwe chairperson Mr Phillip Bvumbe said consumers were already in a predicament as the cost of health care was understated considering the added Covid-19 related expenses. 

“Given the extent to which health funders and healthcare providers have been shaken in terms of high claims due to Covid-19, there is need to relook the model we are using so that every Zimbabwean can have access to health services,” he said.

He said health funders and health care providers should come up with a new model to ensure people can get the health services they require without being turned away for failure to pay. 

“A review of how medical health funders have been operating is needed to ensure that those in the rural areas and low paid civil servants can afford to access health services,” he said.