MVA turns fortunes around

The Motor Vehicle Accident (MVA) Fund was congratulated as one of a handful of parastatals that have made a turnaround and is not running at a loss over the last number of years.

Appearing before the parliamentary standing committee on economics and public administration on Wednesday, MVA Fund CEO Rosalia Martins-Hausiku reported that 89% of the fund's strategic plan for 2014 to 2019, which ended at the end of March, has been implemented.

In the 2018/19 the fund recorded an operating surplus of N$126 million, and its customer satisfaction rated a whopping 93%.

At the end of March the fund also recorded its total assets of N$1.4 billion, exceeding its total liability of N$1 billion. Martins-Hausiku ascribed the turnaround in part to a decline in the medical costs due to a reduction in motor accidents recorded since 2017.

There were 4 187 car crashes recorded in 2016, 4 061 in 2017 and

3 718 in 2018. MVA Fund claims reduced from 3 526 in 2016 to 2 902 in 2018.

In 2018, Khomas recorded the most accidents (1 364), followed by Erongo (426), Oshana (380), Otjozondjupa (316), and Oshikoto (221).

Martins-Hausiku said the MVA Fund has changed its processes and systems to become financially independent, and has implemented cost-management measures that brought about a significant decline in its operational costs.

Some five years ago an actuarial report indicated that the fund was underfunded, and with a boost from the mines and energy ministry through contributions from diesel and petrol sales, the fund could close the financing gap, Martins-Hausiku said.

“With that assistance and the measures we put in place we worked with what we had and that is what brought us to 100% funding; the solvency of the institution has also changed,” she said.

Martins-Hausiku said from lessons learnt from the industry where 30% of claims are usually fraudulent, the MVA Fund has started to implement a system where every claim is being properly investigated.

“The medical bills we get are genuine,” she now says.

The claim process has also improved dramatically. In earlier years clients complained about having to wait for years for claims to be paid out. Now, the MVA Fund pays out all genuine claims in 30 days. Funeral claims, if accompanied by the right post-mortem and police documents, are paid out in 30 minutes. Martins-Hausiku said the challenges for the MVA Fund are limited facilities for specialised care in Namibia.

There are only eight beds and one doctor in the spinal cord injury unit, which was established in partnership with the health ministry and an organisation called Spinalis Sweden in 2013.

Similarly, there is both limited capacity and specialised doctors at state hospitals and limited resources to set up emergency bases.

The MVA Fund has emergency centres at Omuthiya and Arandis, and has a presence in Otjiwarongo where its paramedics team up with the health ministry when responding to crashes.

Martins-Hausiku said the fund will also set up an emergency centre at Otavi, and is considering setting up one at Divundu.

“After that we will move to the south, which is not a high-risk area at the moment, but we do not want to be caught napping should a mass casualty happen,” she said.



CATHERINE SASMAN