CLAIM: Hospital fees go up in Zimbabwe
SOURCE: Message circulating on WhatsApp
VERDICT: Misleading
In a WhatsApp message circulated during the first and second week of January 2025, the writer, citing a statement attributed to former Health and Child Care Permanent Secretary, Dr Agnes Mahomva, claims that hospital fees have increased in Zimbabwe.
‘At Parirenyatwa Hospital, adults will pay $200.00 while children below the age of 5 will pay $100.00 in the General Ward, while at Central Hospitals the fees will be $160.00 & $80.00, at Provincial Hospitals – $120.00 & $60, and at District/General Hospitals the fees will be $80.00 & $40.00 for adults and children respectively,’ claims the writer on WhatsApp.
The writer further gives new fees charged by different hospitals across Zimbabwe.
Matter of fact
The writer cites Mahomva as the current Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Child Care, yet she no longer holds that position. Mahomva held the position from 2018 to 2020. Dr Aspect Maunganidze is now the current Health Secretary.
The WhatsApp message is a reposted old 2020 message which circulated online at the time on different platforms and was picked up by different media houses.
Heath user fees at public hospitals therefore remain unchanged as of June 2022 in which adult and children consultation fees are still pegged at US$12 and US$6, respectively.
Conclusion
The claim: ‘Hospital fees go up in Zimbabwe,’ has been rated as misleading in that its originator recirculated a January 2020 message in which the government had hiked the hospital user fees in the Zimbabwe dollar, which was the official local currency then before its replacement with the ZiG in April 2024. The message was only true and factual at the time. However, today it is out of context and misleading.
