What does make medical workers in Tajikistan take bribes and why should Tajik authorities bear responsibility for this?
A former employee of the Ministry of Health, who wanted to remain unnamed, says the main reason for Tajik medical workers’ taking bribe is a low salary.
“Current monthly salary of a physician working with a state-run medical facility in Tajikistan ranges from only 800 to 1,000 somoni, nurses receive 500-600 somoni per month, and hospital attendants receive only 400 somoni per month,” said the source. “How can they live on such salaries?”
According to him, the other reason is the loss of highly skilled specialists (brain drain). “Many highly skilled medical workers have left the country seeking better employment opportunities. Most of them have left the country for the Russian Federation,” said the source. “They are frequently replaced with young semi-literate and unprincipled people, mostly from periphery.”
The source also named low level of literacy of the population as one of factors contributing to growing out of corruption among medical workers.
Local experts consider that one of the main ways of solving the problem of corruption in health sector is providing medical workers with decent salaries.
Besides, it is necessary to carry out reforms in the country’s medical sector, including introduction of medical insurance system that would cover basic requirements of the population in medical services.
The government has reportedly been speaking a lot about carrying out reform in the health sector over the past decade, but little has been done in this sphere so far.
Recall, in a report released at a news conference in Dushanbe, representatives of the Agency for State Financial Control and Combating Corruption under the President of Tajikistan noted on February 12 that health care was the most corrupt sector in the county last year.
According to them, more than 100 corruption-related cases were reportedly revealed in activities of structures and subdivisions of the Ministry of Health and Social Protection last year.
In 2018, employees of the Ministry of Education and Science committed 96 corruption-related crimes, the anticorruption agency officers said.
Besides, 88 corruption-related crimes were committed by employees of the State Committee for land Management and Geodesy and 305 crimes were committed by employees of banking sector (state-run and private banks are taken into consideration).
Officials of local governments reportedly committed 232 corruption-related crimes last year.
62 cases of appointment by senior representatives of ministries and agencies of their immediate relatives to posts were reported last year, which contradicts to the country’s law on combating corruption, the anticorruption officers added.
Corruption in Tajikistan is a widespread phenomenon that is practically found in all spheres of Tajik society. The situation is essentially similar to that in the other former Soviet republics of Central Asia.
Transparency International's 2018 Corruption Perception Index ranks the country 152nd place out of 180 countries.
