Despite initial assurances from the Department of Health regarding reimbursement of COVID vaccination costs, a number of pharmacies have still not been paid for services rendered.
Jackie Maimin, chief executive of the Independent Community Pharmacy Association South Africa (ICPA), told eNCA television news on the weekend that said several independent pharmacies had not yet been reimbursed and they could not afford to continue free vaccinations to uninsured people.
The Mercury reports that since last year, pharmacists that are ICPA members have been given a credit note for each vaccine administered. Maimin said pharmacists should receive R80.50 per vaccine but overhead costs of staff and equipment were also piling up, with no payment coming in.
“It costs about R100,000 to administer at least 1 170 doses J&J doses and about R200,000 to administer 2 400 doses. The department is not disputing the admin fee. But some pharmacies, especially those in the rural areas, have overheads of more than R1m and cannot carry on incurring the costs.”
Health Department spokesperson Foster Mohale said there has been constant communication with all private service providers (including private pharmacies) since the start of the national vaccination programme.
“This is the first time that a relationship such as this has ever been embarked upon and the scale is huge. But there is now agreement on verification and the terms for invoicing and payment. The time period allowed for the claims to medical schemes has also been extended by the Council for Medical Schemes by a further 120 days,” Mohale said.
KZN Health has vaccinated about 3,233m people of the 7,2m it aims to vaccinate by December.
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