PREMIER Service Medical Aid Society (PSMAS) acting chief executive officer Farai Muchena yesterday told Parliament the institution had embarked on an image rebuilding exercise following recent reports of corruption and failure to service debts.
VENERANDA LANGA
Muchena also told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health that delays by government to renew their operating licence had made the organisation almost ungovernable.
He said PSMAS was owed $5,6 million by government and $30 million by other service providers, hence its failure to service its own $38 million debt to different health service providers.
The previous PSMAS board was dissolved after an alleged scandal where management awarded themselves hefty salaries resulting in CEO Cuthbert Dube earning $230 000 per month.
“For the year 2014, the society presented to government a budget of $172 770 975, but was only allocated $100 000 000, creating a variance of $72 770 975,” Muchena said.
“Government owes PSMAS $5 599 099 in medical aid contributions for 2013, while other service providers owe $30 million and PSMAS itself owes its service providers $38 million which we now plan to start servicing through our debtor recovery plan,” he said.
Muchena said the recovery plan entailed servicing their debt by paying $16 million every month to service providers starting from February 28.
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“We have engaged the Public Service and Labour ministry, as well as the Ministry of Finance asking them to be consistent in their remittances. They said they will ensure the $8 000 000 per month they are currently paying will come on time. We have also made sure our system is able to receive and dispatch money transparently and be able to track utilisation of funds,” he said.
Currently PSMAS has a total membership of 802 072, 671 133 of whom are civil servants and 130 939 from the private sector.
