1.

Medical aid Bill

PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has said parliamentarians should expedite the tabling
of the Medical Aid Services Bill.

Medical practitioners and the Association of HealthCare Funders of Zimbabwe have been
calling on government to speedily come up with a regulatory authority for medical aid
societies.

Giving the health sector status update, the President said government is implementing
measures to revitalise the referral system by upgrading medical infrastructure and
equipment in clinics, district hospitals and central hospitals.

2. Budget

FINANCE Minister Mthuli Ncube has allocated the second biggest chunk of his 2020 budget
to health proposing a $6, 5 billion vote to the struggling sector.

This comes at a time the country’s health sector is crippled following the downing of tools by
doctors and nurses with nearly 300 doctors having been fired over this industrial action.

Council nurses have also joined the go-slow leaving thousands of patients to die unattended
in hospitals dotted across the country.

Presenting his 2020 budget, Ncube said there was need for concerted efforts in improving
the health delivery system also noting that the country has managed to make notable
achievements despite the prevailing constraints.

He added: “To consolidate our achievements in health care, I am allocating $6.5 billion to the
sector. This will cater for health infrastructure, personnel welfare, medicines, drugs, and
sundries, among other essential hospital equipment and necessities.”

3. AHFoZ