 |
|---|
 Dear Members Please find two communications of great importance! The first is regarding the financial proposal that has been well publicised in the media and promises to offer essential financial assistance to practices. The second is information about the Treasury backed COVID-19 relief loan. This provides relief for practices based on practice costs. Regards |
|---|
 |  |
| CHRIS ARCHER CEO: SAPPF | SIMON STRACHAN Deputy CEO: SAPPF |
| FINANCIAL PROPOSAL Dear Members Together with the Progressive Health Forum (PHF) and other specialist organisations, SAPPF has, over the past two weeks, engaged extensively with the media on the funding proposal. It is unfortunate that a News24 article (see below click here) published on 8 July 2020 with incorrect and misleading information, created wide spread uncertainty amongst our members. We can assure you that by no means has the Council for Medical Schemes declined our proposal. We have since engaged with the journalist of the News24 article in clarifying the inaccurate statements made, and the article will be live on their site shortly. Our CEO, Dr Chris Archer, has also set the record straight during an ENCA interview on evening of 8 July 2020, which you can view here (see below click here) and was on Business Day TV today at 13.30, joined by Prof Alex van den Heever, on discussing the detail of the funding proposal. The next step in the process is to ensure that the individual medical schemes are sufficiently informed about this proposal to start meaningful engagements with SAPPF and the individual societies and management groups. Information about this proposal has been sent to the majority of the schemes. We will keep you updated as new information comes to light. NEWS24 Article eNCA Interview |
|---|
| TREASURY |
| Dear Members It is apparent that many practices are not aware of one of the existing solutions for acquiring financial assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the government-backed and bank-led R200 billion initiative for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), the COVID-19 Term Loan Scheme for SMEs with preferential interest rates and repayment terms. The scheme has the objective of assisting SMEs that may not be able to meet their financial obligations during the lockdown and when the economy reopens and essentially provides immediate funding based on expenditure levels for 3-6 months linked to a 5 year period to repay. The SME (in this case, the doctor’s practice) needs to apply for this facility with their main bank and can only apply at one bank. All the banks are on board and each bank loan offers exactly the same terms and has the same qualifying criteria. We have approached a number of banks regarding this loan and it appears that it is being implemented as a last resort option only. This means once a practice has exhausted all other options of obtaining financial assistance. We have been informed that this was not the intention of this loan and a relaunch of this facility is expected in the next week. We expect that this criterion will be removed or relaxed In the meantime here are the links to the websites of the various banks that are offering this assistance. Please contact your banker directly to take advantage of this loan. The loan is backed by the Treasury with the bank taking on 6% of the risk and the Treasury carrying the remaining 94% of the risk. We will keep you updated as new information becomes available. Here’s how to apply for SA’s COVID-19 Loan Guarantee Scheme Here are the links to the various bank websites offering this assistance: ABSA Bank First National Bank INVESTEC Mercantile Bank NEDBANK Standard Bank The applications are generally done online, but you can also liaise one-on-one with your banker. Regards |
|---|
| CHRIS ARCHER CEO: SAPPF | SIMON STRACHAN Deputy CEO: SAPPF |