By Byron Mutingwende

The recently gazetted new tariffs imposed on medical aid societies will not only negatively impact their operations but jeopardise health access to the generality of Zimbabweans who are grappling with economic hardships, a major player in the sector has said.

Cimas Medical Aid Society made the remarks in trying to justify its failure to comply with the Ministry of Health and Child Care’s demands for medical aid societies to pay service providers at the new maximum tariffs backdated to May 2014.

The Ministry of Health and Child Care in May this year increased the maximum tariff charges for doctors and other health service providers by up to 75 percent.

In a statement, Cimas said it would continue to engage the Ministry, as well as doctors and other service providers and stakeholders, in the hope that they would come to understand that it was not viable to insist that medical aid societies pay the new maximum tariffs.

“Cimas has no intention of defying any regulations. The failure to settle claims at the gazetted maximum tariff charges is based purely on economic principles,” Cimas said.

It said that, in common with other medical aid societies, Cimas found it difficult to understand how increases of up to 75 percent could be justified in a low inflation environment.

Calvin Fambirai of the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights said given the current economic hardships, an increase in health costs will be tantamount to a violation of human rights on the part of government.

“How can a government with the welfare of its citizens at heart arbitrarily hike medical fees in an underperforming economy characterised by more than 80 percent unemployment and dysfunctional water and energy supplies,” Fambirai quizzed.

He added that the majority would not afford to pay for medication in a country where communicable diseases like cancer, diabetes and tuberculosis are increasing in the midst of a shortage of health practitioners.