Despite ambitions by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Secretariat to have quality, reliable and standardised healthcare services, citizens from the regional member states are paying with an arm and leg to access health services in their neighbouring countries.
Since member states signed the Protocol on Health on 18 August 1999, foreign citizens from the region are still being subjected to exorbitant charges when accessing treatment.
A foreigner from the SADC region is charged P50 consultation fee in Botswana at a public hospital like Princess Marina Hospital and the costs shoot to over P200 if the patient is admitted. However, locals are only charged P5 consultation fee and treatment is free.
There is also a similar story in Zambia where a foreigner is required to pay almost P500 for admission, whilst locals only fork out less than P80.
Namibia also seems to be one of the most expensive in the region were a foreigner from the SADC region is required to pay between P1500 and P1600 before they can be admitted in a government hospital. On the other hand Namibian locals only pay P22 to be hospitalised.
In the SADC region, Botswana owes the least in outstanding health bills in foreign countries, but Zimbabwe owes the most at over P100 million which is believed to be a result of economic and political refugees who have fled the country to seek greener pastures within SADC member states. Malawi is reported to owe more than P8 million in outstanding health bills in foreign countries.
Prior to 2020, SADC made a commitment that they are in the process of ensuring that they attain an acceptable standard of health for all citizens and to reach specific targets within the objective of “Health for All” by 2020. “We remain committed to the health of the region’s citizens,” says SADC. However the situation on the ground speaks otherwise.
The Protocol on Health advocates for close co-operation in the area of health, but twenty years down the line nothing seems to have materialised and the regional organ seems to be cluttered with poor policy implementations.
Recent studies by OECD also show that hospital prices in SADC are very expensive on its citizens.
