He told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health recently that the scheme would help 90 percent of Zimbabweans not on medical aid.
“Mechanisms would be put in place for everybody including villagers to contribute towards the facility,” Parirenyatwa said, adding that the monthly contributions would be minimal and affordable.
Initially, the ministries of labour and health had suggested the scheme be funded by compulsory deductions from workers’ salaries. But the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions and analysts, expressed fears that the facility would be abused as has happened to pension funds in the past, resulting in intended beneficiaries being short-changed.
ZCTU President, Japhet Moyo, said his organisation “would resist projects whose transparency and performance were questionable.”
Communal farmers interviewed by at the Mbare Green Market, welcomed the initiative but indicated that they would struggle to raise the monthly contributions.
“As much as we would need access to health facilities, the monthly contributions would be a challenge since we survive on seasonal farming activities,” said Angela Chinyowa, of Domboshawa.
She suggested that government should fund the scheme out of revenue realised from national projects such as the diamond mining at Chiadzwa.
Post published in: News