By Angelos Anastasiou
WIDESPREAD cases of corruption in public healthcare, such as ‘brown envelopes’, as well as state doctors maintaining private practices on the side, can only be addressed via the introduction of a national health system, Health minister Yiorgos Pamborides said on Friday adding that he plans to resign if his soon-to-be unveiled plan of action is not adopted.
Speaking on state TV’s morning talk show, Pamborides shocked the hosts when he admitted that doctors still receive under-the-table money to help patients receive treatment faster, a notorious practice stemming from the inefficient systems that created endless waiting lines for patients.
“I have not only heard of [this phenomenon] – I have ascertained it myself,” he said in response to a question.
“Corruption is everywhere. Everywhere. Did you know there are ‘little [brown] envelopes’ in our [state] hospitals? Did you know there are many state doctors who work in private hospitals without our approval?”
Asked why the government is not taking effective measures to curb such practices, Pamborides cited the inadequate means available to them.
“The civil service – besides employees at public healthcare facilities, the doctors and nurses are also civil servants – offers particular tools for combating violations of its rules,” he explained.
“If you look into it, or if you go back and look at how many the Public Service Commission sacks every year – just two or three people every year – you will see how ineffectual the tools available to the state in addressing these incidents are.”
The most drastic way to address such matters, Pamborides argued, is the introduction of a national health system – an issue under discussion since the early 1990s, which no government has found a way to move forward.
“It must be understood that the abrupt introduction of such a system, in an economy still recovering from a recession it was mired in – it is a matter that must be studied carefully, so that we don’t ‘burn the mattress for the flea’,” he said.
But in an effort to explain the dire necessity of pressing ahead with the introduction of the NHS – seemingly targeted at Finance minister Harris Georgiades, the man who holds the government’s purse-strings – Pamborides argued that the investment in public health cannot be measured in dollars and cents only.
“We would be investing in our people’s health – I can’t put a price on that,” he said.
“It’s also an economic matter, but it’s also a political one. The political leadership must look the people in the eye and say ‘we’ve been talking about this for 21 years – it’s coming at ‘x’ cost, or it’s not coming for ‘x’ reasons’. But the public has a right to know.”
The Health minister said he will soon be unveiling his plan for the introduction of the NHS, in a hope that it will be approved so the scheme can be green-lit – otherwise, he will resign his post.
“I will soon deliver the sum of our efforts – if it is approved, we will press ahead; if not… I will most certainly go home,” he pledged.
