Further investigations into state health bribery cases

The health ministry said on Wednesday it is investigating more cases of corruption in the state health sector.
The ministry’s permanent secretary Christina Yiannaki confirmed that they are investigating reports of a private clinic against two state doctors, whose names allegedly appear in documents of another private clinic, where they also refer patients.
State broadcaster CyBC, quoting a reliable source, reported that another case, was referred by the ministry to the legal services. It concerns a report against a state neurosurgeon who allegedly asked a patient for €3,000 to operate on her by moving her up the waiting list.
The reports follow last week’s revelations that state doctors were taking backhanders to refer patients to a private hearing clinic in Nicosia, which led to the arrest of three ENT doctors. Police said the management of the hearing centre in Nicosia had reported that three suspects had been paid some €143,000 in kickbacks from 2008 until the present.
The suspects were allegedly taking advantage the state’s policy of subsidising various programmes for people suffering with hearing problems. Suspects allegedly received between 20 per cent and 30 per cent of the sale price of the hearing aids.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.