One of the country's health care insurance providers, Medhealth Malawi, has partnered South Africa’s Healthshare in a bid to enhance its referral services.
This follows an announcement made by representatives of both companies recently in Lilongwe.
The development comes a few months after the local entity entered a similar deal with an Indian health care insurance company, Yashoda Group.
Chief Executive Officer of Mednealth, Bright Kamanga, said that Healthshare is an institution that offers services that would better correspond with their products, hence the agreement.
“We thought it wise to partner the institution because of the services we offer, one of which is referral of foreign treatment. We decided to partner with a South African firm as other referrals are for South Africa," Kamanga said.
He went on to say that the development will not reflect in any way on service charges for members.
“There is no additional cost to this, you might be aware of the legacy that we have. We were initially metropolitan and all these things were handled by that company before the buyout and we must continue with such services, that is why we engaged Healthshare,’ Kamanga added.
Healthshare Executive Finance and Administration Manager, Dalina Greyling, said that the move is part of the company’s growth drive on the African continent.
“We are a company that has existed for 12 years in South Africa. We specialize in managing care and that is why we like to partner with various players in health insurance. We are currently in Botswana, Swaziland and now Malawi,” Greyling said.

By Chimwemwe Mangazi - The Daily Times

Malawi clocks 53 years of independence there are still any issues elders need to explain to the young generation on the long journey to freedom from the British colonial rule.

Of special interest to the new scholars is the misunderstanding that arose between Malawi's first Prime Minister Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda and six members of his newly appointed cabinet in September 1964 on policy matters.

Among the many differences that led to the crisis that ended in Dr. Banda dismissing some of the newly appointed ministers and others resigning in solidarity with their fired colleagues barely two months after independence was a suggestion to introduce a fee in government hospitals.

MedHealth partnership with Yashoda Hospitals of India is geared towards saving lives of Malawian citizens under a medical scheme affordable to qualifying members regardless of financial status.

Both medical giants in their own right have agreed to run together on an endless healthy journey in a race that, upwards, sees only the sky as the limit and sideways indications that time is non ripe enough for Malawi in look beyond the horizon.

As a developing country, it is a known fact that Malawi is still struggling to cope with numerous challenges affecting the health sector.