Healthcare is becoming the most glaring example for corruption all over the world, especially in developing and transitional economies where public resources are less. Instead of offering good health, it is leading to more human sufferings and worsening of diseases.
Fraudulent billings, inflated diagnosis, doctor’s partnership with company hospitals for giving kickbacks for referrals are few areas where corruption is building its wall in health industry. With strong nexus between the doctors, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and medical equipment companies, the patients are over prescribed medicines and tests, charged overtly for procedures that might not be required, thereby complicating their treatment and adding more agony to their health.
Not only this, there have been incidences where, due to declining health insurance reimbursements, more doctors, regardless of their specialty are promoting cosmetic procedures which are more of out of pocket procedures and not covered by any insurances. Few such examples include that of liposuction, botox injection and breast augmentation. Today, botox injection, given for reducing wrinkles, is administered by any doctor from any specialty. Doctors have started to perform this procedure forgetting their actual specialty just to earn that extra which is not their piece of meal.
With all these corrupt practices, it is directly reducing the resources available for health, deteriorating the quality of treatment, reducing the effectiveness of the health care services and loosing the trust of people on healthcare professionals. Addressing corruption may seem daunting but protecting people from such healthcare professionals who have gone so far would require collective efforts of general public, healthcare professionals and healthcare policy makers.