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Johannesburg - The paying of more than R28m to trustees of 10 medical
schemes in South Africa has robbed many members of life-saving treatment,
Nehawu said on Thursday.
"We (are) disgusted at the rent-seeking behaviour of
the trustees in awarding themselves 'stipends'," said National Education,
Health and Allied Workers' Union spokesperson Sizwe Pamla.
"(These stipends) are far in excess of the monthly
salaries of many of their members who turn to these organisations for
protection in times of health crises."
On Wednesday, The Times reported that 10 schemes had paid
their trustees salaries in 2010 in return for attending meetings about four
times a year. The salaries were revealed in a Council for Medical Schemes (CMS)
report for 2009-2010.
CMS head of compliance and investigations, Stephen Mmatli,
said payments to trustees had increased over the years in a
"concerning" trend.
He told the newspaper that trustee remuneration was meant to
be a stipend rather than a salary. Trustees' salaries were contributing to
rising costs of medical aids.
Being a trustee was "now seen as a career", even
though the duties of the position meant short meetings four times a year, he
said.
Pamla said trustees' salaries, together with "the
looting behaviour" of private hospitals and specialists had plunged many
scheme members into precarious financial situations.
"Every day we hear complaints from members that their
medical aid funds have run out or a scheme has refused to pay for a life-saving
intervention...because of a lack of funds."
The union called on the council to provide trustees'
salaries for all medical schemes as well as costs incurred by administrators
and advertising.
