A POLICE investigation is under way, to acquire the footage of Wednesday’s TV programme ‘60 minutes’, which detailed allegations of bribery of certain doctors in public hospitals.
TV station Sigma’s investigative programme, broadcasted footage of doctors receiving money on the side in exchange for placing patients higher up on the surgery waiting list.
The footage, which was taken from hidden cameras, also exposed certain doctors working privately in the afternoons to facilitate the irregular transactions.
Speaking at a current affairs programme on the radio, police spokesman, Michalis Katsounotos clarified that the request or acceptance of extra money for favourable treatment constitutes a criminal offence.
Katsounotos said that upon the TV station’s revelations, Health Minister Stavros Malas contacted police chief Michalis Papageorgiou and requested the intervention of the police in order to acquire the footage.
Upon securing the footage, Katsounotos revealed that the police would conduct a thorough investigation to determine whether bribery indeed took place, and said that other information which has not been publicised would also be gathered and evaluated.
The bribery allegations have come only two days after further revelations of wrong- doing by doctors; including surgeons unnecessarily conducting surgeries during weekends and even treating fictitious patients.
According to yesterday’s Phileleftheros, investigations conducted by the Health Ministry and the auditing service might indicate, once cross-examined, that two doctors of the Nicosia general hospital were treating fictitious patients on their over-time, and subsequently receiving compensation.
The Auditor General said yesterday that, at first glance, there seemed to be a case against the two doctors and revealed that her office had received testimonies exposing the two doctors of conducting “fake” visits or check-ups during off-work hours and days.
Meanwhile, head of the public doctor’s union, Dr. Vaios Partasides, whose name has been included as being one of the two doctors in question, clarified that he had worked for every hour he claims over-time compensation – which incidentally amounted to €93,000.
Partasides, who is also the head of the radiology unit at the Nicosia general hospital, said that the majority of his over-time was due to the daily screening programme for breast cancer, which three doctors attend each time.
He also clarified that most of the equipment used register the time and date, which makes the use of patient books obsolete. He said that his actions were transparent and called on the Ministry to conduct a search if it wanted to.
According to yesterday’s Politis, the investigations are currently focusing on irregularities regarding the different recording of data in hospital surgery books and patient records, with two surgeons of the Limassol general hospital at the epicentre of the scandal.
The two surgeons are thought to have intentionally arranged to conduct surgeries during weekends or on holidays, so as to claim over-time compensation, sometimes registering up to seven surgeries on a Saturday, compared to a couple during weekdays.
Andreas Demetriou of the Cyprus Medical Association (CMA) lambasted the abuse of the over-time framework and called on the Ministry to modernise the system.
Meanwhile, CMA released a statement yesterday, expressing its support for the Health Ministry’s intention to investigate the matter, and demanded that the culprits be brought to justice, so as to clear the name of the majority of doctors, who conduct their work correctly.
The House Watchdog Committee yesterday, announced the launch of an investigation on the matter and already requested information on the irregular books from 2008.
