OMEN
04-30-2006, 10:54 AM
Harare - All foreigners seeking treatment in Zimbabwe's troubled state-run hospitals must now pay their fees in foreign currency, a government minister was quoted as saying on Wednesday.
Deputy health minister Edwin Muguti said: "From now on, tourists and foreigners, even those foreigners resident in Zimbabwe, will be expected for pay for treatment in foreign currency."
He said the new requirement - which came hot on the heels of a massive rise in fees for local patients in public hospitals - was meant to generate desperately needed foreign currency.
He said: "There are now in place stricter systems to ensure that people who are capable of paying for treatment are made to pay."
The measure would cause consternation to thousands of foreigners - many of them from the southern African region - who had been resident in Zimbabwe for a long time, but did not have Zimbabwean identity papers.
Zimbabwe was critically short of foreign currency needed to pay for imports, but it was illegal in many other sectors of society to demand fees in hard cash.
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Deputy health minister Edwin Muguti said: "From now on, tourists and foreigners, even those foreigners resident in Zimbabwe, will be expected for pay for treatment in foreign currency."
He said the new requirement - which came hot on the heels of a massive rise in fees for local patients in public hospitals - was meant to generate desperately needed foreign currency.
He said: "There are now in place stricter systems to ensure that people who are capable of paying for treatment are made to pay."
The measure would cause consternation to thousands of foreigners - many of them from the southern African region - who had been resident in Zimbabwe for a long time, but did not have Zimbabwean identity papers.
Zimbabwe was critically short of foreign currency needed to pay for imports, but it was illegal in many other sectors of society to demand fees in hard cash.
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