Abstract:
The rapid emergence of for-profit health care organizations over the past few years
poses critical questions on the ethics of health care delivery. The study explores the
ethical implications of commodification of health care service as it relates to the
healing relationship between the professionals and their patients. A cross-sectional
study of for-profit health practitioners in Harare Metropolitan Province, Zimbabwe was
done from a representative sample size which was randomly selected from the
practitioners register. Respondents answered self-administered questionnaires and
key informant interviews. Data was analyzed using Epi Info Version 7, to generate
descriptive and inferential statistics. A significant proportion of for-profit medical
practitioners are not practicing or adhering to good ethical practices but preferring
alternatives which generate income. Medical ethics should be viewed as dynamic,
situational and circumstantial. The study concludes that unregulated commodification
of health care services, negatively affects the healing relationship between the
professionals and their patients due to lack of trust which is the fundamental backbone
of the relationship. The study recommends that regulators of medical practice, Health
Professions Authority and Medical and Dental Practitioners Council, should regularly
review the ethical conducts standards for practitioners since they are dynamic and not
to rigidly codify ethics, as they prevent better human relations and adjustments.
