[All Africa] The Swaziland Government has not paid medical bills running into millions of dollars in neighbouring South Africa and as a result sick Swazis are being denied treatment.South African health institutions stopped giving medical assistance under the Phalala Fund on 19 March 2018, according to a report in the Swazi Observer newspaper on Friday (4 May 2018). More than 100 people have been denied treatment, the newspaper reported.
The objective of the Phalala Fund is to assist deserving Swazi citizens who would otherwise not have access to specialist medical care to get it either, within Swaziland or 'in special circumstances' outside the kingdom.
Somntongo Member of Parliament Sandile Nxumalo the chair of the parliament select committee set up in 2017 to investigate the administration of the Phalala Fund said people would die if government did not attend to the situation as a matter of urgency.
The suspension of services is nothing new. The Phalala Fund has been riddled with corruption and inefficiencies for years.
In October 2017, the Times of Swaziland reported at least three people had died because they could not get treatment after services were suspended because bills had not been paid.
At the time the Swazi Government owed E170 million (US$12 million).