When I first entered the world of cancer, in 2007, I really believed that everyone in the sector was doing the right things. Lovely charities, who might help me. Pharmaceuticals and research all doing their best to find a cure. Plus politicians who must be working against one of the worlds biggest killers, surely? My goodness, was I green and naive. Nothing could’ve been further from the truth, of course. As a businessman I could never understand, how the amount of financial and human resources put into cancer, didn’t produce the relative progress it should.
But now, 16 years on, it really makes sense. No, I don’t believe the old chestnut about big pharma having the cure for cancer. But I DO believe that the entire sector is corrupt. Everyone earning more, as the world becomes sicker, and more reliant on drug companies. We have a less than transparent charity, Cancer Research, running most of our research in the UK. Does that really make sense? Government ‘slipping in to bed,’ with private healthcare wherever they can. The NHS can only offer us the basic treatment in most cases, due to initial cost. Plus the incredible waiting lists, where many of us will die, before we even have the opportunity of treatment. Worst of all we are going backwards now. So here is my analysis about healthcare corruption, and why I believe we are experiencing it in the UK.
Examining Corruption in Healthcare Systems Around the World
Healthcare is a basic human right, but unfortunately corruption remains an insidious issue, plaguing health systems globally. From bribery to fraudulent billing practices, this article analyzes the complex factors that foster corruption in healthcare, and potential solutions.
Defining Corruption in Healthcare
Corruption encompasses an array of unethical practices. This includes bribes for preferential treatment, under-the-table payments for access to medicines or care, procurement fraud, informal payments, absenteeism, and the misappropriation of resources. Corrupt practices siphon off resources meant for patient care and infrastructure.
According to Transparency International, corruption is one of the top obstacles to achieving universal health coverage worldwide. But corruption looks different across contexts, demanding localized solutions.
Hotspots for Healthcare Corruption
Corruption in healthcare rears its head everywhere, but it thrives in particular environments:
Resource Limitations – Where healthcare resources like staff, equipment, and medicines are scarce, corruption often persists as workers exploit shortages for personal gain.
Weak Governance – Lack of accountability and oversight enables graft. Reform is difficult in bureaucratic systems or with political interference.
Low Wages – Underpaid healthcare staff are more tempted towards informal payments and misappropriation to supplement incomes.
High Out-Of-Pocket Costs – When patients pay most costs out-of-pocket, they may resort to bribery to skip long queues or access treatment.
Poverty – Poor populations are most burdened by corruption as they cannot afford bribes or private care.
Drivers and Enablers of Corruption
Complex factors enable corruption to metastasize in healthcare systems. These include:
- Asymmetric Information – When patients lack medical expertise, providers can exaggerate diagnoses for financial gain.
- Supplier Monopolies – Sole suppliers of medicines or equipment can charge inflated prices through procurement corruption.
- Perverse Incentives – Pressures like sales targets for doctors can encourage over-prescription.
- Deficient Laws – Loopholes regarding bribes, gifts from industry, and procurement processes enable corrupt behaviors.
- Cultural Acceptance – In some contexts, bribery is normalized as the only way to obtain care. This perpetuates the cycle.
- Poor Accountability – Absent or ineffective oversight, auditing, and prosecution allows corruption to flourish.
Impact on Patients and Populations
The impacts of corruption in healthcare are wide-ranging:
- Poor Quality of Care – Patients suffer from incorrect diagnoses, inadequate treatment, long queues, and subpar facilities. Preventable deaths may result.
- Inequitable Access – The poor struggle to obtain basic care while the wealthy pay bribes to jump queues. This worsens inequality.
- Inefficiency and Waste – Misused resources, fraud, and bloated bureaucracies inflate costs and deplete budgets.
- Loss of Public Trust – Corruption erodes faith in healthcare systems. Citizens disengage or resort to self-medication.
- Public Health Risks – Shortages caused by graft enable outbreaks and epidemics to spread.
Strategies to Curb Corruption
There are no quick fixes, but policies and actions to discourage fraud include:
- Transparency Initiatives – Open contracting, freedom of information laws, disclosures of gifts and assets, whistleblower protection.
- Participatory Governance – Patient empowerment through information campaigns, report cards, patient charters, community monitoring.
- Overhaul Procurement – E-procurement systems, rotation of suppliers, external audits on pricing.
- Performance Management – Develop key indicators on absenteeism, diagnosis accuracy, infection rates and monitor rigorously.
- Increase Accountability – Establish anti-corruption authorities, enforce codes of conduct, strengthen prosecution.
- Improve Pay and Incentives – Ensure health workers receive living wages. Link incentives to ethical patient outcomes.
The Path Forward
Corruption is a universal threat to healthcare, but it manifests in unique ways across different nations and cultures. Sustainable reform requires multiparty efforts, patient engagement, transparency, and system-level changes focused on accountability and incentives. There are no quick fixes, but a multifaceted approach can slowly bend the arc towards more equitable, ethical healthcare worldwide.
You may have seen many of the aspects above, feature very highly in this country. Yes, corruption is a strong word, but seeing what our Government have been doing, it’s not hard to see why I might think like that. A sick world is very profitable for many! As always these are my opinions based on personal experiences. I’m sure many won’t agree with me. So as always, please feel free to share your own views below.
