Examples of corruption in hospitals around GCC

Ralph Childs

Owner, ProScan Middle East

Can you brief us about your experience?

I have lived and worked in the MENA-GCC regions since 1996 as a radiology engineer.

What is the difference between Radiology Engineering and Clinical Engineering?

Clinical Engineering generally encompasses Biomed and some facilities maintenance. Radiology Engineers do only Imaging systems.

Can you tell us about your experience with corruption at health facilities in GCC?

There have been numerous instances of corruption that I have witnessed. It has been sometimes a suggestion for a gift or as blatant as flatly being told an amount or percentage of the project that I would be required to pay if we were awarded the contract.

My first instance came as my company was servicing 2 CT scanners at a very large MOH facility, the local agent paid off the in-house Biomed engineer to complain that he was unhappy with our service. This is while one scanner was at 97% uptime and the other at 99%. As a result, we were not allowed to bid when it came contract renewal time.

Did you; recently, face any corruption incident? for example, were you asked to pay any amount of money to finalize some customer's project? 

My most recent situation was a couple of weeks back. I was contacted by another company about a project at a new private hospital. We were asked to bid for their DR, CT and MR systems. These were all going to be late model used units and we had them relocated. Our pricing was the low bid based on or cost and one year warranty cost. Then, the person that referred us wanted a 5% finder’s fee and the Consultant engineer wanted a 5% payback to him personally. These fees all came up AFTER we were low bid and had really cut our margins to be very competitive.

Is "corruption" a culture in health technology practice in  in GCC ?

Over the course or almost 17 years I have seen dozens of cases of people wanting payments or gifts and they feel that it is completely acceptable to do business that way.

In your point of view, what is the solution for corruption in healthcare technology industry in GCC?

Solving the issue of corruption is going to be a very difficult matter to address. Culturally it has been accepted for generations. Bakshish(Tip) has been a part of the Gulf society and a normal trading practice. However, with a matter as sensitive and important as healthcare, it is a mandatory change. Every time someone accepts something with a payment they are diminishing the quality of the service that is provided. Additionally, in the case of employees accepting bribes, they are stealing from the facility owner. If it Ministry facility, they are stealing from the government.

The solution is twofold.

1. Persons that report it (whistleblowers) should be rewarded and recognized for their honesty. Not punished and made to seem as if they are at fault. 
2. The other change is to heavily punish those caught accepting bribes. They should be dismissed from their position and have to make full restitution for the amount they took. If it is a government facility they should also face the risk of a prison sentence for stealing from the government.

Thank you Ralph for the honesty and the touch of this sensitive matter which puts risk to patient life as well as legal compliance.