MASERU — Lesotho students studying in South Africa have been warned to be on the lookout for fraudulent healthcare consultants who are masquerading as brokers for Ingwe Health Plan.
Ingwe Health Plan is a South African medical scheme that specialises with foreign students studying in South Africa. According to the public relations company for Ingwe, Martina Nicholas Association (MNA), the bogus brokers have been claiming to be agents for Ingwe for quite some time.
“According to Rikki Erasmus, head of Ingwe Health Plan Sales a limited number of unscrupulous individuals are at present endeavouring to sell non-existent healthcare cover to residents of Lesotho who are studying in South Africa,” the statement said.
“What is disconcerting is the fact that these unscrupulous actions include using the good name and high standing of Ingwe Health Plan in order to commit their fraudulent activities more easily.”
Seven cases in which students were defrauded have been reported so far, the statement said.
“We have uncovered seven cases where students have paid a healthcare consultant under the pretext that they are purchasing healthcare cover from Ingwe Health Plan.”
“However, instead of completing the necessary paperwork to process a legitimate membership application the ‘consultants’ are apparently pocketing the funds and leaving students in dire straights without any healthcare cover.”
“We want to put an urgent stop to this as we do not want to see any other individuals impacted by this.”
“What is troubling is that students may not even be aware that their healthcare policy is not legitimate. Should something happen to any student that is not registered on Ingwe Health Plan it would make it near impossible for them to receive adequate emergency care at one of our accredited healthcare providers.”
The scheme is currently dealing with about 1 000 students from Lesotho who are studying in South Africa.
