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Corruption In Health

by msecadm4921

Corruption in the health sector deprives those most in need of essential medical care, says Transparency International’s (TI) Global Corruption Report 2006.

For the millions of poor held hostage by unethical providers, stamping out corruption in health care is a matter of life and death, Berlin-based TI claims. “Corruption in health care costs more than money. When an infant dies during an operation because an adrenalin injection to restart her heart was actually just water – how do you put a price on that?” said Huguette Labelle, chair of Transparency International. “The price of corruption in health care is paid in human suffering.”

UK say

Jim Gee, Chief Executive of the NHS Counter Fraud Service, commented: “The NHS Counter Fraud Service (NHS CFS) welcomes the Transparency International’s report on global healthcare fraud. It not only highlights the problems of fraud and corruption but recognises the success the NHS has had in tackling it. With a financial benefit to the NHS of £675 million (a 13:1 return on the budgetary investment), the NHS Counter Fraud Service is one of the most successful agencies of its kind in the UK. The NHS CFS approach to countering fraud and corruption is recognised as best practice in the UK public sector and increasingly across Europe, with the new European Healthcare Fraud and Corruption Network (EHFCN) adopting a similar strategy. This approach which has produced very significant results in a very short time, with losses to healthcare fraud reduced by up to 54 per cent since 2000. We are proud of our success but know that we can not rest on our laurels. Fraud still exists in the NHS and we determined to strive even harder to tackle it.”

US health

The report looks at the global US $3 trillion health sector, exposing, it says, a maze of complex and opaque systems that are a fertile field for corruption. While the majority of people employed in the sector perform their functions with diligence and integrity, there is evidence of bribery and fraud across the breadth of health services, from petty thievery and extortion to massive distortions of health policy and funding fed by payoffs to officials.

What they say

“Corruption eats away at the public’s trust in the medical community. People have a right to expect that the drugs they depend on are real. They have a right to think that doctors place a patient’s interests above profits. And most of all, they have a right to believe that the health care industry is there to cure, not to kill,” said David Nussbaum, Chief Executive of Transparency International.

Counterfeit drugs

Aggressive marketing techniques buy physicians’ support for specific drugs, leading to a high rate of prescriptions that are not always based on patient need. With individual “blockbuster” drugs pulling in tens of billions of dollars each year for pharmaceutical companies, ballooning marketing and lobbying budgets have outpaced the research and development outlays necessary to create new and critical medicines that could save lives in low-income countries, the report says.

Corruption underpins a lucrative counterfeit drugs trade. Payoffs at every step of the chain smooth the flow of counterfeit drugs from their source to the unwitting consumer. With pharmaceuticals often the largest household health expenditure in developing countries – estimated at 50 to 90 per cent of total individual out-of-pocket health expenses – corruption in the pharmaceutical industry has a direct and painful impact on people struggling for survival, according to the report.

Undermining the fight against HIV/AIDS

Corruption has hampered the success of global efforts to reign in the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The international response to the growing crisis has been to scale up aid in order to fund prevention programmes and the disbursement of life-saving anti-retroviral medications. Increased aid alone will not be effective if corruption is not curbed. Accountability mechanisms need to be introduced to prevent money from leaking at every level.

Development under threat

Corruption is undermining progress towards the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals, the report adds, in particular the three related directly to health: reduced child mortality; improved maternal health; and the fight against HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. With the target date for achieving the goals just nine years away, the global community is already off target to meet them – and corruption is one of the primary causes. “Poor families, particularly in rural areas, who cannot afford private health care face the agonising choice of food or medicine. Feed your child or cure his illness, but not both? No parent should face that awful choice,” said Huguette Labelle. The cure for corruption in the health care industry starts with transparency, TI says.

State worldwide

The Global Corruption Report 2006 also presents reports on the state of corruption and governance in 45 countries around the world, including evidence of financial irregularities in post-tsunami relief operations, it is claimed.

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