‘SCRAP POLITICIANS’ MEDICAL AID FOR NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE’

MBABANE – Eswatini needs to budget for a national health insurance and discard the free medical aid benefit for politicians.

The politicians, who are sent to office by the electorate to represent them on national issues that touch upon their welfare, should advocate for the Ministry of Finance to discard their medical aid benefit in favour of investing in the national health insurance.

This was an observation made by Bheki Mamba, President of the Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU).
Mamba implored government to put the people first instead of having a high benefit medical aid for politicians, courtesy of the taxpayer.

Taxpayer

Politicians are anticipated to cost the taxpayer over E1 billion during their term in office. This amount is established from estimates calculated based on Finance Circular No.2 of 2013, which provides high benefit access, health care.
This budget incorporates 494 parliamentarians, who are Members of Parliament (MPs), senators, tindvuna tetinkhundla and bucopho. It excludes the yet to be appointed members of emabandla.

Mamba said the decision by the bureaucracy that had been pleading financial instability for over two years when it came to the much sought cost-of-living adjustment (CoLA) demand, was not a true reflection of what seemed to be happening on the ground.
The unionist said medical aid supported those who had means, while leaving the poor with dilapidated medical facilities that had no medication. He said the health sector should accommodate all, not just a chosen few.

Mamba said every true politician who has the interest of the people at heart should use public facilities to see their status and forge a way on how they could be improved for the masses.
He said government should stop the medical aid benefit and facilitate a model that would benefit national health facilities. This, he said, was a stance that was adopted by the Republic of South Africa, following a health summit.

With such a policy, Mamba said the citizenry would benefit in the sense that the pharmaceutical prices would be standardised, thus making them cheaper for the public. He said the country needed to start investing in the national health care plan, to prioritise the health of the citizenry as they were a human resource. He said this could start by the Ministry of Health having a budget that would permit it to host a health summit.

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