RUYIGI August 11th (ABP) – The General Director of the Public Service Mutual (MFP), Mrs. Annociate Sendazirasa, on Friday called on the administrative officials in all State services of the eastern and central provinces of Burundi, to liquidate all arrears of staff contributions under their responsibility. Doctors prescribing drugs are for their part invited to avoid prescribing more expensive drugs and prescribe drugs available at the Public Service Mutual.
Those calls were launched the day after a workshop organized by the Civil Service Mutual in the headquarters of Ruyigi province to discuss with its partners on ways and means to improve benefits and membership.
According to Mrs. Sendazirasa, the Public Service Mutual is in the process of setting up new strategies to serve all the Burundian people who so desire and not just state officials. She also stressed that very soon the Public Service Mutual will change its name to become National Mutual of Burundi. She clarified that this change is in line with the government’s call for the mutual fund to serve all the Burundian people who so desire and not only members of the public service.
Note that the strategy newly adopted by that institution is to reach out to the people. Thus, with the creation of communal hospitals which will soon begin to operate, each communal hospital will establish a counter and a pharmacy throughout the national territory.
Despite all those future prospects which constitute a boon for the people, the general manager of the Public Service Mutual deplored several major challenges which constitute an obstacle to achieving the targeted objective. The partners of that mutual are all called upon to contribute, each their part, so that the services and membership of that organization can be improved.
Among other challenges pointed out by Mrs. Sendazirasa, it is the arrears that hamper the proper functioning of the mutual. For the central-eastern region alone, made up of the provinces of Cankuzo, Ruyigi, Karusi and Gitega, those arrears are subdivided into two parts, i.e. one hundred and ninety-four million for the communes and more than four hundred and four million for the hospitals and health districts in those provinces.
That authority noted another no less serious problem, the fact that medical acts have increased significantly compared to the time of the creation of that mutual card. Some acts currently cost a thousand times, eight hundred times and to a lesser extent two hundred times their original price. For more precision, she underlined, if the current situation persists, the Public Service Mutual could find itself short of funds as of June of the year 2022 to finally, in the fatal case, cease completely its activities. The other main problem is linked to the fact that some generic drugs provided by the Public Service Mutual come in beautiful packaging to encourage users to consume them, saying that they are specialties when the active molecule is the same.
To that end, the General Director of the Civil Service Mutual has asked the administrative officials of those four provinces to settle all arrears owed to the mutual. Doctors, stop prescribing more expensive generic drugs that are ruining the people. To the members of the mutual, that authority asked everyone to check regularly whether their employer is paying contributions regularly and properly. She finally stressed that the staff of the mutual is there for the well-being of all Burundians.