High Medical Costs Hit Zimbabwe
Medical treatment costs are proving to be an albatross around the necks of Zimbabweans as they are rising beyond what is practically manageable for an average citizen.
Medical costs in Zimbabwe are now arguably the highest in the southern African region.This is against the African backdrop of a dying public health care system and the proliferation of costly private healthcare institutions, which are piling up misery on the struggling ordinary citizen.
Many patients have to fork out at least US$20 consultation fees to see a general practitioner, who then refers them to a specialist who asks for between US$50 to US$80.
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| High Medical Costs Hit Zimbabwe |
And by the end of the entire process the medical bill would have grown so huge that even those on medical aid cannot escape a shortfall.
For an abdominal CT scan or X-ray computed tomography, the patient will have to part with at least US$550 or more.
The same abdominal CT scan, however, roughly costs about R3 800 (approximately US$270) in South Africa.
User fees in Zimbabwe are generally applied in an ad hoc manner and vary depending on the service pro
Despite having invested in primary healthcare from as early as the 1980s, with local clinics available from village level to national level, Zimbabwe's health care system is collapsing at a time when it has become highly expensive as private healthcare takes over from public health care.
The country's public health delivery system is currently facing numerous challenges such as poor infrastructure, shortage of skilled professionals, scarce medical drugs and even properly functioning laundry machines.
While government policy dictates that it should provide free-of-charge health services for pregnant and lactating mothers, children under five and those aged 65 years and over, this has proved difficult for government, which led to health institutions relying on user fees to provide the barest minimum service.
Pregnant mothers are charged US$50 while in South Africa medical services are free including a caesarean section (C-section) when complications arise; but in Zimbabwe mothers are charged upwards of US$250 in a public hospital, while private doctors are charging as much as US$1 200 for a C-section.
This fee does not include the hospital fee, the anaesthetist and the theatre nurse charges.
For the C-section in South Africa the gynaecologist will charge at least R8 000 (US$570) and a paediatrician (present at birth) would charge R2 500 (US$180).
In Zambia, the consultation fee at government hospitals is US$1 and the consultation fee at private hospitals is 150 Kwacha (US$30).
A C-section costs US$ 1 000 in a private hospital and US$300 in a government hospital.
The US$50 charged at local clinics in Zimbabwe is often prohibitive, leaving some women to give birth outside the health system.
It is estimated that more than 39 percent of women are having home deliveries.
Last week in Parliament, Tafara-Mabvuku legislator, James Maridadi, bemoaned Zimbabwe's high healthcare fees when compared to other countries in the region.
"On yellow fever, if you want to travel to countries where they demand that you have yellow fever vaccination, for you to get yellow fever vaccination in Zimbabwe; you need something between US$56 and US$66. I have a friend who travelled to Kenya last week without yellow fever vaccination. When they got to the airport, they were asked to produce the yellow fever vaccination card which they did not have and were told to go to the clinic at the airport and get vaccinated.
"There was a penalty because they had gone there without yellow fever vaccination. The yellow fever vaccination plus the penalty is US$24 in Kenya and yet in Zimbabwe, it costs between US$56 and US$66. A scan in Zimbabwe, according to Premier Service Medical Aid Society costs US$500. In Kenya, it costs US$100 and in South Africa, it costs US$90," Maridadi said.
For a hip operation in Zimbabwe, one needs at least US$10 000 according to Warren Park legislator, Elias Mudzuri.
The MDC Member of Parliament for Matabeleland South, Priscilla Misihairmbwi-Mushonga, also said she had to travel to India to access treatment and paid only US$5 to see a doctor and paid US$20 for medication enough to cover the whole year.
"I think our medical system is too expensive. Honestly, to go and see a specialist, who is charging anything between US$80 and US$120, I tell you that it is refusing the common man medical attention. Today there is no cash and someone is pronouncing that when you come to my office, come with cash. Is that not condemning people to death?" Mudzuri rhetorically asked.
In Zambia, patients are buying a pint of blood for only US$50, while in Malawi the same blood is sold for US$42, yet in Zimbabwe government hospitals are selling it for between US$120 to US$140, while private hospitals charges are as high as US$200.
Community Working Group on Health executive director, Itai Rusike, said government had a responsibility to fund basic entitlements in health care.
"The inclusion of a right to health care in the 2013 Constitution makes establishment of the entitlement even more important, not only for the state, but for the health care providers.
"The current impasse between Zimbabwe Medical Association and the medical aid societies is of great concern as this new system opens the door for cash payment, defeating the point of prepayments to medical aid. It increases the barriers to use of services.
"The general public is concerned at why some medical aid societies are paying obscene salaries to their senior managers yet they are failing to pay doctors. Doctors must also have a human face as there are some doctors who are overcharging patients hence we have seen an increase in medical tourism to such countries as South Africa, India etc. as their charges are much lower even when you include air fare, accommodation and food," Rusike said.
The high cost of medical treatment act as a barrier to basic health services for many Zimbabweans as 90 percent of the population do not have medical insurance.
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