22 Feb 2021

The total cost of medical aid services incured by the Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA) in the past 10 years amounts to P47.1 million while P42.1 million was for medical aid schemes, says Assistant Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, Mr Molebatsi Molebatsi.

He said the cost of the corporate wellness programme amounted to P5 million. “The agency does not have in-house medical advisors and has outsourced these services to the private sector,” he said.

He pointed out that in an effort to improve wellness in the workplace, CEDA had outsourced medical related services to various companies.

The agency, he noted, had engaged Botsogo and BOMAID to provide medical aid services for more than 10 years while AFA was appointed in 2017.

Mr Molebatsi said the choice of the medical aid scheme remained the prerogative of the employee while contributions towards employees subscriptions were paid by the agency. For the corporate wellness programme,

Mr Molebatsi said CEDA initially contracted BOMAID in 2012 and in 2017, and three service providers being ICAS, Daisy R and BOMAID. He further explained that CEDA had also been using Avenue Medical Centre for more than 10 years to carry out pre-employment medical screening.

Member of Parliament for Mahalapye West, Mr David Tshere had asked the minister to state which company or individual had been engaged by CEDA to offer medical related services in the past 10 years.

He also wanted to know the annual cost to CEDA over the last 10 years, and whether CEDA had already hired its own medical advisors. ENDS