The BHF announces nominees for the 2020 Titanium Awards

The 2020 Titanium Awards are seen against the backdrop of the Coronavirus (Covid-19), which has threatened universal access to health services and put a strain on the healthcare system. The awards seek to celebrate and promote excellence in healthcare.

The nominees for the 6th Annual Titanium Awards, who will contest a podium position in each of the two award categories, have been unveiled. The Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF) will announce the winners in the 2020 edition of the prestigious awards on Wednesday 11 November 2020 at a virtual awards event.

This year the Titanium Awards seek to recognise and honour professionals and organisations that are driving change by creating affordable, accessible and sustainable healthcare throughout the region. The awards fall into two categories, mainly the Award for Excellence in Creating Access to Quality Healthcare (Individual and Organisations), and the Award for Service to Membership: Open, Closed & Self-Administered Medical Schemes, Administrators and Managed Care Organisations.

The Titanium Award for Excellence in Creating Access to Quality Healthcare was introduced to honour individuals, academics and organisations in the healthcare sector, who are driving and supporting programmes, initiatives and campaigns in the fight against Covid-19 to create access to healthcare for communities.

The award was open to all organisations in the healthcare sector, including medical schemes, administrators, pharmaceutical companies, managed care companies, SMMEs, healthcare professionals, and non-profit and government agencies, including CSI programmes. The nominees in this category are Medscheme, Alliance Care, Bestmed, Covid-19 Doctors on Call, MMed Distribution, Momentum Health, SAMWUMED and the Aurum Institute.

• Alliance Care Sub-Acute Rehabilitation Hospital, the health facility that is at the forefront of providing sub-acute and rehabilitative care in South Africa, has been nominated in recognition of the strides they have made in creating a therapeutic nursing environment, and for their work in manufacturing their own personal protective equipment (PPEs) and face masks for use in their facilities, and for free distribution to other healthcare workers and economically marginalised communities.
• Bestmed, a self-administered medical scheme operated by members, was nominated for its relief efforts during the Covid-19 pandemic when it raised funds to provide food parcels, sanitising supplies and face masks to vulnerable communities.
• Covid-19 Doctors on Call are the providers of medical information to poor and vulnerable communities. They provide information through a free call centre helpline. The organisation was nominated in recognition of their high quality, credible information and advice relating to the coronavirus pandemic.
• MMed Distribution is a specialist procurement solutions partner to hospitals and medical schemes, as well as a distributor of pharmaceutical, surgical and medical products and devices. The company has been nominated for creating over 4 000 jobs during the Covid-19 pandemic, when they ramped up their face mask manufacturing capability and expanded their portfolio to include production of overalls and gowns.
• Momentum Metropolitan is one of the leading open medical aid schemes that service private individuals and businesses alike. Momentum was nominated for its efforts in supporting the Department of Health in curbing the transmission of Covid-19 through health telephone interventions such as Hello Doctor, which facilitates consultation between patients and doctors over the phone, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
• Medscheme, South Africa’s largest medical schemes administrator, has been nominated in recognition of the partnerships it has forged with government and other stakeholders in using its skills and expertise to help contain the Covid-19 pandemic.
• The South African Municipal Workers Union Medical Scheme (SAMWUMED) is a fully funded, national-accredited and self-administered medical aid scheme that covers approximately 73 000 lives throughout South Africa. SAMWUMED was nominated for its Covid-19 drive called “Teaming up to Beat Covid-19 Campaign”, which educated its members and staff about Covid-19, how to protect themselves against possible infection, and kept them informed about the trends and developments around the virus.
• The Aurum Institute was nominated for their innovative use of information and communications technology (ICT). They developed a smart solution called Pelebox, an easy to use high-tech medication dispensing unit that uses a locus system to dispense medication to patients. The use of Pelebox negates the need for people to stand in long queues for hours at public health facilities for their prescriptions, and the system has helped hundreds of people to receive their medication safely and securely during the lockdown.

This category also recognises individuals who have gone above the call of duty in significantly contributing towards healthcare efforts to enable universal healthcare.

The following individuals have been nominated for their contributions to the healthcare industry:

• Anele Siswana, who is a clinical psychologist and lecturer at the University of Johannesburg. Siswana is a regular contributor to public engagements focused on men’s health and masculinity, mental health and gender-based violence in South Africa.
• Dr Margie Venter, who is the current secretary and co-founder of the Association of Palliative Care Practitioners of South Africa, a non-profit organisation formed by a group of South African doctors trained in palliative medicine. She is a palliative care-trained oncologist and runs her own practice in Stellenbosch, Enfold. Together with a multi-disciplinary team, Enfold is a palliative care service and network for patients and families facing serious illness.
• Professor Mohambry N. Chetty, who is one of the founders of a landmark programme called Doctors on Call. He started this pro bono service with Dr Anuschka Coovadia. They managed to source 440 volunteers to work on Doctors on Call for Covid-19. The doctors on call give their time and expertise to offer counsel, advice and Covid-19 screening. They also refer poor communities to health facilities to get the appropriate care with Covid-19 health issues.

The Titanium Award for Service to Membership: Open, Closed & Self-Administered Medical Schemes, Administrators and Managed Care Organisations recognises and rewards medical schemes (open, restricted and self-administered), administrators and managed care organisations providing the best service to their members. It celebrates industry excellence and unprecedented contributions to members by providing value for money. The award honours efforts aimed at broadening reach to quality and affordable care, to drive excellence in healthcare in the best interest of the health citizen.
The nominees in this category are Medscheme and the Botswana Medical Aid Society (BOMAID).

• In this category Medscheme was recognised for its new generation health management, which offers superior expertise that integrates the disparate and fragmented healthcare components (members, providers and funders) in delivering efficient coordinated care to improve the health outcomes and experiences of members at the most affordable cost.

• Botswana Medical Aid Society (BOMAID) is the oldest medical aid service provider in Botswana. The Fund was established by a consortium that initially drew its membership from audit firms, parastatals and banking organisations. Bomaid has over time experienced substantial membership growth and is currently the largest open medical aid scheme in Botswana, commanding approximately 52% of the market share among the open medical aid schemes.

“The Titanium Awards give us an opportunity to celebrate the milestones organisations and individuals in the healthcare sector have achieved in facilitating access to universal healthcare and in driving service excellence in the sector. We are delighted and humbled by the quality of the submissions we have received this year, which is indicative of the unwavering commitment of our healthcare professionals to become catalysts of positive change, now more than ever, especially within the context of the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Zola Mtshiya, Head of Stakeholder Relations and Business Development at the Board of Healthcare Funders.