Corruption in Indian healthcare

The World Bank has uncovered serious incidents of fraud and corruption in a review of several health projects that the bank has funded in India. As expected, the Indian government has promptly made a promise that a thorough investigation will be performed and exemplary punishment will be delivered to the individuals who were involved with these fraudulent and corrupt practices. World Bank's findings would hardly come as a surprise for the ordinary people of India. Corruption in healthcare is nothing surprising for the people who live in India. In spite of a huge economic boom and technological advancement in the recent years, India still has an abysmal healthcare system, especially for most of the ordinary citizens who primarily depend on the government hospitals.

Reports of medical negligence appear almost on a daily basis in the news in India. There are hardly any checks and balances for the members of the Indian medical community. Brazenly devious practices such as doctors accepting "commission" (kickback from a particular laboratory where the patient is forcibly sent to undergo medical tests) or aborting female fetuses in violation of the "Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act" are regular affairs in India. Medical council, the regulatory policing agency for the errant medicos, is itself plagued with pervasive corruption. The Supreme Court of India has recently dubbed the Medical Council of India (MCI) as a 'den of corruption" and removed a sitting president of the council on charges of money laundering. For the residents of India, corruption in healthcare is hardly any news these days.

But World Bank's scathing indictment of the Indian healthcare system will certainly have serious repercussions far beyond the boundaries of the country. This is why the Indian government was quick to send a vigorous response that guilty persons will be found and receive exemplary punishment. Who would believe that our healthcare leaders had no idea what the World Bank found as evidence of pervasive fraud and corruption? The World Bank found several health projects including HIV/AIDS were riddled with fraud and corruption. AIDS is a serious problem in India.

India holds the ignominious distinction of being the second in the world with the number of HIV/AIDS patients - a close second only to South Africa. The World Bank has found fraud and corruption with the hundreds of millions of dollars that the bank gave to the National AIDS Control Organization" (NACO) in support of the second "National AIDS Control Program" (NACP-2) between 1999 and 2006.

Dr Kunal Saha

http://www.centralchronicle.com/20080116/1601304.htm