Hundreds of lives are being
put at risk and at least three people have died because the Swaziland
Government has not paid its bills to South African medical service providers.
This has led to health facilities
refusing to accept patients under the Phalala Fund. According to the Times of Swaziland newspaper
on Thursday (26 October 2017), the Swazi Government has unpaid debts of E170 million
(US$12 million).
Patients on both the
Phalala scheme and the Civil Servants Medical Referral Scheme are affected,
according to the newspaper.
According to the Swaziland
Government, The objective
of the Phalala Fund is to assist deserving Swazi citizens who would
otherwise not have access to specialist medical care to get it either, within Swaziland
or “in special circumstances” outside the kingdom.
The newspaper said in the
present financial year (2017/18), 455 Phalala Fund patients and 130 civil
servants had been referred, several suffering from cancer.
There is nothing new in
this situation. The Phalala Fund has been riddled with incompetence and
corruption for many years. Many times in the past South Africa stopped taking
patients because of unpaid bills. For example, in 2014 a Ministry of Health’s Senate Portfolio
Committee Report said E40 million (less than a
quarter of the present day debt) was unpaid and patients were being refused
treatment.
In November 2014, the Accountant General Phestecia
Nxumalo reported that the Phalala
Fund had been defrauded of E9 million because single bills had been paid
multiple times.
As long ago as 2006 a report published by the
World Bank recommended sweeping reforms to both funding schemes, but
these have not taken place.
The report said ‘only a
tiny segment’ of the Swazi population benefitted from the large medical subsidy
the government paid. It said there were no cost-effective guidelines so the
fund could be used on patients who were too sick to benefit from treatment.
Also, fees and other prices
were not negotiated before treatment and were ‘completely supplier-determined’.
The report concluded, ‘Thus
the two funds provide a “blank cheque” for South African doctors and hospitals:
whatever amount they ask is paid for by Government, since it has no recourse
but to pay up.’
It also said that
management of the funds were poor and it was easy to mistakenly pay bills more
than once “due to multiple reminder billings”.’
The report recommended that
as far as possible medical care should take place within Swaziland rather than
outside using both public and private health facilities and investment should
be made to make this happen.
See also
SWAZI GOVERNMENT ‘IS BROKE’
SHORTAGE OF HIV DRUGS FOR BABIES
DRUG
SHORTAGE CRISIS DEEPENS
THREAT
TO LIFE AS GOVERNMENT DOESN’T PAY BILLS
SWAZI
KING’S BUDGET INCREASES US$14 MILLION
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