Zimpapers Logo

Pamela Shumba Senior Reporter—
DOCTORS and nurses employed by Premier Service Medical Investments (PSMI) have gone on strike over salary arrears dating back five months, leaving tens of thousands of their patients stranded. PSMI is a subsidiary of the Premier Medical Aid Society (PSMAS) and has clinics and pharmacies across all the provinces in the country with a 2,053 strong workforce.

The PSMI clinics reportedly serve between 350,000 to 400,000 patients every month. Middle level managers, doctors, pharmacists and radiologists boycotted work yesterday, demanding salaries for at least three months before they go back to work.

PSMI medical clinics in Bulawayo were deserted with patients milling outside the premises. A majority of patients returned home while those with money paid cash to be seen by other doctors. Most medical service providers demand cash from PSMAS members as the cash strapped health insurer is failing to pay.

PSMAS, which owes PSMI over $44 million, blames the government for collecting but failing to remit health insurance contributions of civil servants. The majority of the society’s clients are public sector workers. Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa recently said the liquidity challenges facing the country resulted in Treasury failing to remit members’ monthly premiums to PSMAS – which has had a domino effect with PSMAS in turn failing to pay hospitals and doctors, including PSMI clinics.

PSMI business development and customer relations manager Nhamo Marandu confirmed that their doctors and nurses had not reported for work yesterday morning. He said the organisation was in the dark because they had not communicated the reason for the work stoppage. Marandu admitted that PSMI was facing a financial crisis with the parent company PSMAS owing them $44 million.

“We’ve been experiencing an unprecedented level of absenteeism from our practitioners who include doctors, dentists and pharmacists in our medical clinics across the country. We’ve not yet had communication from them. To us this is not a strike because we’ve not received any official communication to that effect,” said Marandu.

“Our services have indeed been affected. We continue to engage our biggest debtor PSMAS who in turn continues to engage the government. “PSMAS currently owes us $44 million. If we get that money our operations will be back to normal. In fact, what we need immediately is $20 million to normalise our operations.

PSMI, Marandu added, was lagging behind in the payment of salaries because of the liquidity crunch that is bedevilling most institutions. “As management we’re deeply indebted to our practitioners as they have risen above our challenges and remained focused on the reason for our existence.

“Going for five months without salary is indeed a sacrifice. We’re proud of their commitment to duty and we’re hoping this will be resolved immediately. “We’ll engage the practitioners and communicate the formal position. Once it’s established we’ll share the information with our stakeholders as we make efforts to address the situation,” said Marandu.

A worker at one of the PSMI clinics told Chronicle that the senior staff communicated with the PSMI management in July after they had gone for three months without pay. “They threatened to go on strike in July demanding their three months salaries. They got salaries for two months and nothing came after that. There was no communication from the management.

“Now they’re demanding at least three months’ salaries to return to work. The supporting or junior staff members are at work but it’s just like the clinics are closed because it’s impossible to operate without the doctors,” said the worker, who declined to be named. He said the lowest paid junior worker got about $300 every month while middle managers got about $1,500, senior staff took home about $6,000.

PSMAS owes service providers millions of dollars, with some taking the health insurer to court for failure to settle claims by its members. PSMI doctors have been accusing the parastatal’s top management of giving themselves hefty salaries and buying luxurious cars at the expense of the struggling doctors and patients who are failing to get medical attention.

Patients have also complained that the clinics are always congested and it takes days for one to be admitted.