PREMIER Service Medical Aid Society (PSMAS) prides itself in having a long history of success and professional service to its members dating back to over nine decades.
“The society is rich with expertise and has stood the test of time and still continues to go further in bringing value to its members. For the past nine decades, PSMAS has built a rich heritage and solid foundation in the healthcare sector in Zimbabwe as well as having a deeper understanding of its various stakeholders,” it wrote on its website, the window into the goings on in the country’s largest health funder by subscriber base.
Behind that feel-good story is grand-scale looting, with investigators unearthing that US$60 million was spirited away from the society between 2018 and 2022.
This was done through a defective claim management system and the purchase of properties that were not included in the company’s management systems by officials, according to a forensic report.
Assets were purchased but not included in accounts, fictitious purchases were made as executives turned PSMAS into a piggy bank.
This is the second time that PSMAS resources have been plundered in a decade and it raises questions on the integrity of the institution’s leaders.
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It also means that members and other key stakeholders like the government, by virtue of having the largest pool of members, did not put in place measures to curb abuse of resources meant to cater for members.
It emerged in 2014 that PSMAS executives were paying themselves obscene salaries and allowances, a conduct critics said bordered on criminality.
At that time, then chief executive officer Cuthbert Dube was said to be earning around US$500 000, with finance director Victor Chaipa said to be getting around US$350 000.
Investigations showed that board members were paid fees in advance and one board member “resigned to pursue other personal issues” from a board he sat on in the financial sector.
Other beneficiaries still hold their positions in government.
The salarygate scandal forced the government to cap salaries for executives in parastatals and State-owned entities at US$6 000?
It seems we have learnt nothing and forgotten nothing.
Investigator Reynolds Muza told a special annual general meeting on Wednesday that there were more than 50 properties, including shopping malls but rentals from those properties were never declared to the society.
“They were supposed to come to PSMAS so that PSMAS treats them as investment income, which can be applied to clear your medical claims.
“So if you were to dispose of all these properties tomorrow, PSMAS will have more than US$20 million in the bank,” Muza said.
This is pure criminality.
The biggest loser in this PSMAS asset stripping is the member, who is confronted by shortfalls everytime he or she seeks medical attention.
PSMAS members face the ignominy of having their cards rejected at non-PSMAS clinics and hospitals on the basis that PSMAS has not been meeting its obligations.
They are forced to buy drugs they would have accessed at PSMAS clinics.
According to PSMAS, the society boasts over 900 000 members spread across Zimbabwe with a physical presence in 17 cities and towns.
PSMAS, it said, has stood the test of time and remains “committed to serving its members to the best of its experience and expertise”.
All PSMAS stakeholders must combine forces to put an end to the plunder.
It cannot be business as usual when each year executives are siphoning members’ contributions.
The 94-year-old institution faces a stern test to gain the confidence of members and stakeholders.