Withdraw Psemas ‘cartel’ claim – doctors to PM

Doctors are demanding that prime minister Elijah Ngurare withdraw his allegations of a criminal cartel involving doctors. The Namibia Medical Society (NMS) and the Medical Association of Namibia (MAN) have expressed disappointment over Ngurare’s remarks in the National Assembly on 22 October, in which he claimed doctors and individuals within the Public Service Employees Medical Aid Scheme (Psemas) could be working together to overclaim from the scheme. He says the government has already spent N$4 billion on Psemas claims. NMS executive board chairperson Johannes Shilongo says it is irresponsible of a head of state to make the allegations without supporting evidence. He says the allegations should not be treated as casual observations, especially when they implicate members of a profession entrusted with the lives and well-being of a nation.

“We acknowledge that the prime minister may not have intended to implicate every medical doctor. However, words have consequences, including unintended ones. Their impact extends beyond the speaker’s intentions,” Shilongo says. He says it risks creating the impression that medical practitioners are collectively involved in criminal activity, unjustly casting suspicion on the profession. MAN chief executive Armid Azadeh says allegations of the nature should not be made without evidence. He says Namibia has established laws and investigative institutions through which such conduct must be addressed. “We unequivocally condemn corruption, fraudulent claims and unethical professional conduct. We will neither defend nor shield a practitioner found to have engaged in wrongdoing,” he says. Azadeh says those responsible must be identified and brought to account, without reducing an entire profession to an organised criminal cartel. “Doctors…