Areas of Corruption in the Health Sector in Jordan as Perceived by Local Community Representatives

Abstract

Corruption is a multifaceted social, political, ethical and economic phenomenon that affects all countries. Despite that Jordan spends about 8% of its GDP on health; very little attention has been paid by researchers and policy makers to corruption and integrity in the health care delivery system. This study aims at identifying areas of corruption in the health sector in Jordan, factors that promote corrupt practices and policy directions to prevent and control them as perceived by local community representatives. The study adopted the qualitative approach utilizing the focus group method to collect data. A total of 36 convenient sample of local community representatives from the Middle, North and South Regions of Jordan participated in the study (12 from each region). A conceptual model which addresses the corrupt practices of the main actors: providers, patients, and suppliers, was used during. The findings of the three focus groups were put together by the investigators and analyzed by the principal investigator.The results showed that areas of corruption among providers were perceived mainly in requesting unneeded investigations and medical procedures, referring patients to certain providers in order to achieve financial gains (commission), prescribing expensive medicine and wasting working hours.  Areas of corruption caused by patients were perceived in the confiscation of the health insurance cards,  trying to get free care by under-reporting their income and deceiving insurers to obtain benefits. Causes of corruption and interventions to improve integrity in the health sector were also addressed by the participants.

Keywords: corruption, health sector, integrity, local community representatives.