Psemas confusion reigns

There is a lot of confusion surrounding the administration of the Public Service Employees Medical Aid Scheme (Psemas) following an announcement by government that it was reviewing contracts of service providers. The finance ministry said in a notification dated 29 April that it will terminate all contracts with private medical and health service providers by the end of June. This announcement has reportedly irked the service providers, who have in turn, demanded upfront cash payments from Psemas members. Although government moved to allay the fears surrounding the medical aid impasse by reassuring members that the scheme would continue functioning as usual, we are not convinced that all is well at Psemas. In the past months, service providers such as general practitioners, pharmacists and specialists have started tapping into their reserves to pay their workers due to non-payment of Psemas claims. Government had known since 2010 about the goings-on at Psemas and the outcome of the full-scale inquiry into the rot at the medical aid scheme. However, a lax attitude towards governance prevailed, further worsening the situation. While we bemoan the fact the authorities came up with no serious measures to reform Psemas even after spending millions on investigations, we are equally puzzled as to why no heads have rolled thus far. The medial aid fraud is a serious matter, which threatens the health sector of this country. It has the potential to short-change thousands of Namibians contributing to medical aid schemes. And typical of our government, we have to wait for things to spiral out of control before coming up with remedial measures and to bring the culprits to book. It is fine that we are at least coming up with the necessary checks and balances to detect and eliminate fraud and dishonesty, but the damage is done. If we are really serious about turning the corner, then those “criminals” who abused the system should be made an example of and face the music, including the corrupt officials who turned a blind eye and let it slide! Government has a moral obligation to ensure quality healthcare for its citizenry and that arrangement cannot be compromised by rampant greed at the expense of taxpayers – It is unacceptable!