CEMI - Centar za monitoring i istraživanje

Prava pacijenata u Crnoj Gori

06. Jan. 2017. u publikacije

Montenegro is often characterized as a country which rapidly advances onits way towards the EU, but likewise a country where corruption and organizedcrime are widespread. The healthcare system is recognized as an areaespecially susceptible to corruption. Occurrence of corruption in healthcarenegatively influences the quality and availability of medical services, decreasesthe number of provided services, increases their cost, and directly jeopardizeslives of patients. According to the results of a public opinion survey publishedby Directorate for Anti-Corruption Initiative in December 2015, corruptionin healthcare takes up the first place (18.9% of the respondents believe thereis corruption in the healthcare system), followed by police and inspection services. According to a public opinionsurvey CeMI conducted and published in 2016, 42.6% of the respondents consider that corruption is widely spreadin healthcare and that it is mostly present within doctor-patient relations (37.8% of the respondents). This percentagehas unfortunately decreased by only 1.3% in comparison with the research conducted in 2013. This fact indicatesthat there still remains a lot of work to be done in this field by the relevant institutions and the Montenegrin societyeven though this problem has been recognized by all relevant institutions and even though there has been progressin relation to it.The aim of this paper is to give an overview of the presence of corruption in the healthcare system in Montenegro, itsmain forms and causes, the shortcomings of existing anti-corruption policies in this area and finally to give recommendationsfor its reduction. The healthcare system is very complex, comprising many actors and decision-makinglevels as well as spheres which are recognized as “fertile ground” for the occurrence of corruption. Most studiesrecognize three levels of corruption in healthcare, categorizing them into so-called “petty” corruption and “grand”corruption. The first one refers to the problem of informal payments within doctor-patient relations which is recognizedas the most widespread type of corruption in our society. So-called “grand” corruption comprises two levels:public procurement procedures and the relations between pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors. The focus of thispolicy paper will be on presence of corruption within the doctor-patient relationship.