Call for affordable health care

Black-owned health-care group Afrocentric said on Friday more affordable health-care models have become “an imperative” given that consumers are under intense pressure.

Black-owned health-care group Afrocentric said on Friday more affordable health-care models have become “an imperative” given that consumers are under intense pressure.

The holding company said the SA operating environment has been “burdened” with economic and political challenges.

SA has slipped into a recession, meaning that GDP per capita shrank in the first half.

“The broad but adverse commercial impact on consumer disposable incomes, compounded by the increases in medical costs, has not unexpectedly focused the attention of all health-care stakeholders … that alternative models for more affordable health-care delivery has become an imperative,” Afrocentric said.

Afrocentric provides administration and risk management services to the health-care industry. On Friday it reported a 74.9% rise in profit after tax for the year to June to R384.9m as total revenue increased 11.3%.

It said this is a “sound operating result”.

MEDICAL SPECIALITIES

“Good progress was made by all … business units, in particular the growing divisional interests in supplementary medical specialities, including the group’s rapidly expanding pharmaceutical operations.”

Afrocentric said its fraud management software has been “a great developmental success”, having yielded direct savings and recoveries to clients of more than R500m.

The group’s shares closed 0.9% lower at R5.25 on Friday.