10 Jun 2015

Accidents claim many lives every day, some of which could have been avoided if extreme caution was applied.

They occurred unexpectedly at various places and vary in severity and nature. However, there were some measures put in place by the Ministry of Health to attend to cases that required immediate medical attention.

The ministry had since introduced the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) for treatment of victims at the accident scene before being referred to the hospital. EMS encompasses staff from various agencies such as MRI, police, fire, Red Cross and medical officers.

Enlightening the audience on their involvement in the Medical Rescue International Botswana (MRI), managing director, Ms Constance Matabiswana explained that MRI was bound by common medical ethics and not driven by money. So their first responsibility as MRI is to go out to help whenever there is an accident regardless of whether the victim is subscribed or not.

“Remember there may be no second chance for the victim if help is not received immediately.” she stressed. 

She however said members of the medical schemes linked to MRI have unlimited access to the MRI services without any payment. She also pointed out that the MRI 24 Hour call centre has access to government ambulance and that if the ambulance is not available MRI will go out to respond. Furthermore she clarified that pregnant women and children are given first priority as far as medical emergency is concerned.

On issues of payment for non-subscribers after the service has been executed, Ms Matabiswana explained that in case of a road traffic accident, MRI sends a bill to Motor Vehicles Accident Fund [MVA] which pays after assessing the claim. In a case where victims are not subscribed to MRI, but have a medical aid cover elsewhere, MRI sends bills to the medical aid the victim is subscribed to.

She went on to explain that people who are not subscribed to their service but have a medical aid cover are usually taken to the best nearest facility of their choice, citing tourists who may have an insurer in their country of origin as an example. She said that billing is on the basis of proof of service and preauthorization by the funder or contracted service provider and the 24 hour call centre will then liaise with the insurer for authorization and payment. Those who do not have medical aid are referred to the nearest government facility.

She indicated that occasionally they enter into short term agreement with public health facilities stating that during the festive season MRI was contacted to provide EMS within the Gaborone locality to help curb the shortage of resources. She expressed gratitude that MRI enjoys a very cordial relationship with the public health sector. ENDS