Specialised health care bill prohibitive

A number of external partners, as well as the two local private hospitals are owed an undisclosed amount of monies for rendering specialised services such as complicated oncology procedures and paediatric morphology (renal diseases) and children related ailments, Mmegi learnt yesterday.

Health minister, Dorcas Makgato said they have been able to freeze out some finances to pay, but she divulged that as of last week the situation was bad. Addressing the media on the state of her ministry, she added, “this ministry stresses me, I have to make judgement calls, life and death decisions”.  “The ministry is currently working on reducing escalating cost of referral to South Africa and local private facilities at the same time improving access to specialist care,” she said. However, the minister declined to disclose the amount of the costs the government has incurred in referrals.