By Rex Mphisa
THE Government on Wednesday enacted a law that will compel, under an amendment to the Medical Services Act, all hospitals including private institutions, to handle all emergency cases.
The new law prominently introduces a binding emergency treatment obligation by all heath service peoviders, according to a post by Ndabaningi Mangwana, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services.
“Private health institutions must now admit any patient with a life-threatening emergency for at least 48 hours to stabilise them before transfer, even if the patient cannot afford care. The Minister may also request private facilities to provide specialist services for public emergency patients during public crises,” Mangwana wrote on his X (formerly Twitter) Account.
“Cost-recovery agreements can be made with the State or patients. Heads of private institutions (or practitioners acting without authority) who refuse such emergency admission face fines up to level 8 or imprisonment up to one year,” he wrote explaining the new Act.
He said the provision effectively bars private facilities from turning away critical emergency cases based solely on inability to pay.
The new act will immediately bind even public institutions that have been treating patients on a “pay-first” basis.
It is however not clear how the new law will address the pharmaceuticals which are medicinal drugs or biological substances used to diagnose, treat, prevent, or alleviate diseases forming the basis of how such emergencies are handled.
While treatment expertise is human-based and can be provided, pharmaceuticals are often the hurdle in both public and privwte medical institutions where these are bought privately.
Medicines and drugs form foundations of modern healthcare, encompassing a wide range of products including prescription medications, over-the-counter (OTC) drugs, vaccines, and topical ointments.
Although it is generally believed drugs disappear from Zimbabwe’s public hospitals and pharmacies due to underfunding and foreign currency shortages, internal pilferage has been a major factor with the public disadvantaged by Government pharmacists.
Most pharmacies are run by Government employees accused of pilferage of drugs from their employer.
There is however a general belief that chronic budget constraints prevent the state supplier, NatPharm, from maintaining sufficient stock, forcing desperate patients to seek care at unregulated private pharmacies and the black market.