SAMIA FREEZES HOSPITAL DELAYING BODIES OVER UNPAID BILLS

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AfricaPress-Tanzania: PRESIDENT Samia Suluhu Hassan on Tuesday blocked hospitals from withholding dead person’s body on grounds of unsettled bills demanding the ministry of health to establish a best approach that can permanently address the crisis.

Both mainstream and social media have reported several cases involving families complaining over hospital administrations refusing to release the body of their departed member of family for unpaid hospital debt.

But addressing women in Dodoma on Tuesday the President wants nothing but a permanent solution, no hospital should keep a dead person’s body on unpaid bill.

The President said one of the best plans is to provide medical expenses before the patient dies an opposite of waiting when they take their last breath. “You just don’t wait and demand for 3m/- or more for this, no. We have to plan well.”

 

“It does not make sense,” she said “when one is grieving and thinking about burial arrangement, only to be interrupted with bills … this is unjust,” she said explaining that people should understand the need to also make payment during treatment.

The government, however, is optimistic the comprehensive health insurance package will resolve all the ambiguity. “It’s necessary that people must get public healthcare insurance,” she added.

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