HEALTH and Child Care minister David Parirenyatwa is today set to be grilled by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Public Accounts over the $100 000 advance payment he allegedly received from the Premier Medical Aid Society (PSMAS).
by Staff Reporter
Parirenyatwa has insisted that the payment was released procedurally as it was due to his private surgery, adding he only agreed to reimburse it following an outcry from the public, which misunderstood the relationship that existed between medical practitioners and medical insurers.
Last week, Gweru MP Emma Muzondiwa (MDC-T) doorstepped Parirenyatwa in Parliament and asked him to clarify the matter.
“Honourable Muzondiwa, you talked about the issue of Cuthbert Dube (former PSMAS chief executive officer) and that I also received some money from him as well. It is an important matter to me and it actually hurt me quite a lot and for a time, I actually withdrew into myself because it is not true that I did that,” Parirenyatwa said.
“What I find Mr. Speaker Sir is that sometimes there is no understanding of the working relationship between doctors and insurance companies,” Parirenyatwa said before Bulawayo South MP Eddie Cross requested that the matter be set for today’s meeting.
The payment to Parirenyatwa’s surgery caused an uproar last year, with his critics saying it was improper as his ministry regulated PSMAS, a situation that may have forced the service provider to extend the bailout to him.
