SHOCKER AS RFM FEES TO INCREASE BY OVER 60%

phephile@times.co.sz

MBABANE – Patients who use the private services of Eswatini Nazarene Health Institution (ENHI) are in for a shocker.

The institution has announced a revision of fees for private out-patient, private in-patient and dental services. Some of the new prices have been increased by150 per cent, according to documents the Times SUNDAY has seen.

According to their website www.snhiswaziland.com, the ENHI comprises the 350 bed Raleigh Fitkin Memorial (RFM) Hospital located in Manzini, and the 20 Nazarene Community Clinics operating in the four regions of Eswatini serving an aggregate population of 350 000 for RFM Hospital and 250 000 for all the clinics. The website states that ENHI is a major player in the health sector in Eswatini and ENHI is a mission organisation which also leads in patient volumes in the country with coverage of 40-50 per cent of the country’s population.

These fees to be increaesd include the charge for seeing a specialist which has increased from E60 to E150. Others are surgical tooth extraction and restorations (fillings) which have all increased from E20 to E50.  Using the RFM’s public facility for out-patient costs E20 during the week, and E35 after hours and during the weekend. Public transport operators will also be in for a shock as obtaining medical forms for public driving has also increased by 140 per cent. The service previously cost E50, and will now cost E120 each.

All in-patient services have been increased by 100 per cent. These include Private Ward 1, which will now cost E300 from E150, and Private Ward Lodging which has increased from E70 to E140 with meals, and E20 to E140 without meals.

Good Shepherd Hospital charges E250 per day for patients in private wards. If you have a guardian, you pay E325 per day. The documents, which were written on December 19, 2018, state that the revised fees will be effected on Wednesday, January 9. The institution’s website further explains that they have a private out-patient department for patients who can afford to pay a higher fee which has a booking system.

It is further stated that the private services available at Raleigh Fitkin Memorial Hospital are full fee paying services and are made up of four services. These are Medicine, Surgery (including Orthopedics), Pediatrics and Obstetrics & Gynaecology.  “There are in-patient and out-patient private services available,” the website states.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Eswatini Nazarene Health Institutions, Benjamin Simelane, said the fees had been reviewed only in their Private Section to mitigate the costs for offering the healthcare service to private patients that has all along been below the costs.

“Considering the fact that the fees have not been revised in the past 20 years or so, that indicates that our fees are still much lower compared to other private facilities,” Simelane said. He said they were determined to give private patients some private professional attention from their experienced medical professionals and staff.

Mandla Ntshakala of the Swaziland Consumer Forum said this was bad news to consumers. He said the country was currently faced with high unemployment and poverty levels. He said the rate of the increase was too high to be affordable by emaSwati. He said recently, people could not access medication at hospitals, and had to fork out more to purchase them at pharmacies.

“A developing country should ensure that health access is free as it is a basic need,” he said. He said there were many issues affecting consumers, and he hoped the new government would address them. Efforts to get a comment from the Ministry of health proved futile as the Principal Secretary, Dr. Simon Zwane’s cellphone rang unanswered and the director of health’s phone was off.

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