Cape Town, South Africa: The 7th Titanium Awards, honouring individuals and organisations who have made an impact in various areas of healthcare, took place during the 21st Annual Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF) Conference, currently being held in Cape Town.
Gift of the Givers Foundation founder, philanthropist Dr Imtiaaz Sooliman, received the Titanium Lifetime Achiever Award – a unanimous decision by the judging panel, while Bestmed was recognised for providing the best service to its members.
“Award recognitions this year were particularly important as health systems continue to evolve and adapt to the demands of the 21st-century patient and challenges imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic,” according to Zola Mtshiya, Head of Stakeholder Relations at the BHF.
The 2022 Titanium Awards were probably the most challenging since the inception of the awards in 2014, she added.
“Many of the organisations that entered the awards contributed significantly towards healthcare during the Covid-19 period and made a lot of improvements in their work and engagement with their members as well as the community at large.
“The task of the independent auditors in selecting this year’s winners was extremely challenging, as they had identified outstanding individuals, healthcare professionals and organisations in the public and private healthcare sectors who have gone above and beyond in making a significant and tangible difference in healthcare and in creating access to affordable quality health services; and those who continued to drive patient-centric and sustainable healthcare solutions,” she said.
The BHF Titanium Awards recognise excellence in four categories, and the winners and nominees are as follows:
The 2022 Titanium Excellence in Creating Access to Quality Healthcare went to Bestmed. Nominees in this category included Alignd, Dis-Chem Pharmacies Ltd, Afrocentric Group (Medscheme), Momentum Health Solutions (Pty) Ltd, Ndlovu Care Group (NCG) and Vaccines for Healthcare Workers (V4HCW). This award honours organisations driving programmes, initiatives and campaigns that create access to healthcare for communities. The award is open to all organisations in the healthcare sector, including medical schemes, administrators, pharmaceutical companies, managed-care companies, small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs), healthcare professionals, non-profit and government agencies, including Corporate Social Investment (CSI) programmes.
The Titanium Award for the Best Integrated Report went to Medscheme for upholding King IV’s principle 5 that states reports should enable stakeholders to make informed assessments of the company’s performance as well as its short, medium and long-term prospects. Nominees in this category included Bestmed, Bonitas and the Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS).
Asanda Madi walked away with the Titanium Award for Young Achiever. Other nominees in this category included Khangale and Anele Siswana. This award celebrates young professionals who have made a notable impact in the healthcare industry. It seeks to promote effective succession within the sector to sustain the future of the medical profession.
The Titanium Award for Service to Membership: Open, Closed and Self-administered Medical Schemes, Administrators and Managed Care Organisations was awarded to Bestmed in Category A for member service and to Bonitas in Category B for operational service. The nominees in these categories included Bestmed, Bonitas, Metropolitan Health Corporate (Pty) Ltd and Medscheme. The award recognises and rewards medical schemes (open, restricted, and self-administered), administrators and managed care organisations for providing the best service to their members. It celebrates industry excellence and unprecedented contributions to members by providing value for money.
The BHF is the representative body of medical schemes, administrators and managed-care organisations throughout southern Africa, including South Africa, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana, Malawi and Swaziland. Since 2014 the BHF has used the awards to honour healthcare professionals and healthcare organisations driving programmes, initiatives and campaigns that create access to healthcare across communities. The 2022 Titanium Awards were adjudicated by independent auditors Nexias SAB&T.