Makgalemele distances Khama from health policy
Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Friday July 21, 2017 16:04
In March this year, the Ministry of Health and Wellness introduced a health policy that removed injuries related to self-inflicted harm from government medical cover. This was contained in a savingram from the ministry’s permanent secretary Shenaaz El-Halabi dated March 29, 2017, titled “Removal from medical cover for self-inflicted harm” addressed to District Health Management Team (DHMT) heads.
wThe savingram stated that the implementation of removal of medical cover for self-inflicted injuries will be on: drunken driving, riding motorbikes without helmet, failure to use seat belts for self or children as passengers, participation in riots and mass gatherings involving violence leading to injury, lung cancer associated with tobacco and tobacco products and attempted suicide related to alcohol or drug abuse.
Government later suspended the implementation of the policy following negative feedback from the general public. The Assistant Minister of Health and Wellness Phillip Makgalemele this week in Parliament denied that the policy would come under the new Health Financing strategy. He also denied that the policy was introduced due to pressure from President Ian Khama’s disdain for alcohol.
“It is not true that this was done to address the President’s disdain for alcohol. As a government we don’t come up with policies to impress someone,” Makgalemele said. However, Makgalemele admitted that the policy was suspended due to negative feedback from the public.
When the Member of Parliament for Ghanzi North, Noah Salakae asked if the decision to suspend the policy was done in good faith or it is a plan to introduce it under the Health Financing strategy, Makgalemele said they are currently consulting stakeholders to determine the way forward.
At the time when the policy was introduced, the ministry had argued that the cost of sustaining medical services has continued to escalate as such decided that some services given in some segment of the patients be paid for by the patients.