Health tourism consultancy venture takes off

Ms Cheurombo Pswarayi (39), a trained aircraft maintenance technician was forced to abandon her profession to venture into the medical field following the death of her maternal aunt.

She founded MedTours Africa which could be the only health tourism consultancy in the country. Working with a group of three other young women, they scout for health service providers and empower healthcare seekers with the requisite information.

Their ultimate goal is to ensure that people get the best and quality affordable service both locally and outside the country.

Scores of Zimbabweans get referred to specialist hospitals locally and internationally but due to a lack of money, some eventually succumb to the ailments. Others lack the requisite information in terms of accessing services after getting prescriptions or referrals from doctors.

Unlike in the past when seeking treatment in foreign countries was widely viewed as a thing for the elite, it is increasingly becoming a need, even for the less fortunate in Zimbabwe.

MedTours Africa seeks to close the gap by providing free information on health services to enable individuals to make informed decisions

Zimbabweans become medical tourists for certain services that are not offered locally such as kidney or liver transplants, coronary angioplasty, gastric bypass surgeries and mammoplasty among others.

MedTours Africa was one of the exhibitors at the just-ended Association of Health Funders of Zimbabwe (AHFoZ) health conference in Victoria Falls.

While the organisation is headquartered in Harare, it serves patients across Zimbabwe and beyond the country’s borders.

Ms Pswarayi said MedTours has also empowered women, most of whom are burdened by the sickness of a family member.

“I am an entrepreneur, founder and chief executive of MedTours Africa. I trained in aircraft maintenance but got into healthcare in 2011 with a medical supply business. I went into medical tourism in 2015 because of the experience I had when I lost a maternal aunt who needed treatment which was not available locally,” she said.

“What I realised then was that sometimes it is not about money but lack of information on the right hospital to provide the required service. If it’s a foreign health facility, we assist in terms of airport transfers, shuttle services and accommodation,” said Ms Pswarayi.

She said most people lack information when it comes to accessing some of these services.

Ms Pswarayi said she invested in research for two years, which ultimately led to her opening MedTours Africa.

“Sometimes 40 percent of our clients are those opting for foreign health institutions citing exorbitant medical fees charged by local facilities. What we do is to get quotations for them from various institutions,” said Ms Pswarayi.

She said patients are given quotations so that they make informed decisions.

Ms Pswarayi said they link patients with registered service providers and she said her ultimate goal is to promote inbound medical tourism.

“What I have realised is that the burden of care for those unwell falls on the woman and so our service eases the burden. We are also supported by healthcare funders and women in the medical fraternity,” she said.

“When I started in 2015 my business plan was to start attracting inbound medical tourism in five years. I think we can go back to the 1980s when people were coming to be treated locally which enhances skills.”

MedTours Africa chief operating officer, Dr Lyndsay Simbanouta (27) said they work with doctors and service providers.

She said they are concerned when it comes to issues to do with health security.

“We have had almost 100 percent success rate with no cases of failed surgeries for all the clients we handled. We have helped patients who needed a liver, bone marrow and kidney transplants as well as cardiac cases,” said Dr Simbanouta

“Before they even travel they get that window to speak to the doctors and this service has also made it easy for doctors to review and monitor their patients. There are a lot of scammers out there hence we deal with registered institutions.”

-chronicle