Combating corruption in health care organizations: Methods, tools, and good practices

Although corruption in health care reflects the ills of the society in general, some key areas to be focused upon are as follows: procurement processes; the so-called 'speed money'; theft, pilferage and malpractices; and staff recruitment. Each organization needs to devise its own mechanisms for transparency and accountability in procurements. A two-bid system of technical and price bid, asking for users' list, demonstration, or onsite visits to ascertain the functioning of equipments, 'Publish What You Pay' type of initiative, participation of users as in Rogi Kalyan Samitis , anticorruption networks are some of the tools to address corruption in hospital procurement. The menace of informal payments or speed money can be addressed by encouraging and facilitating users' feedback, involving hospital neighborhoods in anticorruption squads and having CCTV surveillance in key areas. Theft, pilferage, and malpractice siphons off goods and services meant for the ailing. Administrative vigilance and strict handling of the instances reported may serve as a deterrent. Having a labor law professional or a trustworthy NGO on the panel may help reduce corruption, especially seen in the case of contractual jobs. Phenomenon of corruption is difficult to capture in a single definition or measure. Sincere, intense, and sustained anticorruption measures have to be adopted and pursued by health care facilities top-down as well as bottom-up, providers as well as users, ex ante as well as post facto. All anticorruption measures have a use-by-date to them. Innovations would be required. Key ingredient would be sincerity of the management.