How many people complained about bribery in hospitals – according to the National Health Service
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From January 1, 2022 to March 30, 2023, the National Health Service of Ukraine received 771 complaints against doctors for extortion. “UP. Life” was informed about this by the NSZU. Complaints related to extortion of money from patients for medicines, provision of medical services and consumables covered by the Medical Guarantee Program. The largest number of complaints to the National Health Service came in the second month of the full-scale war: in March 2022, demands for bribes by doctors were reported 118 times. Photo: [email protected]/Depositphotos The least was in October 2022, namely 34 complaints. In March 2023, the NSHU received 52 complaints against medical workers. Almost 15% (115) of complaints were from Kyiv patients. In 11.4% of complaints, the region was not mentioned. 10.6% came from Dnipropetrovsk region, almost 10% – from Odesa region, 8% – from Lviv region – 5.3%. The fewest complaints were received from Luhansk and Kherson regions – 0.5% or 4 from each region. How doctors who demand money are punished. The National Health Service says that the service is not a punitive body. If violations are detected, the National Health Service may: apply to the institution with a demand to return the funds to the patient; apply fines to the institution; terminate the contract with the medical facility; contact law enforcement agencies. “We emphasize that in order for the complaint to have a positive result, it is important to provide as many facts and evidence of money extortion as possible (checks, photos or videos, names of medical workers who demanded money). This will help establish the fact of extortion and return the money to the patient,” they say at NSZU. After receiving a complaint, the National Health Service conducts an inspection. NSHU sends letters to the health care institution with a request to provide a reasoned explanation of the situation and requests to renew the patient’s rights and return the funds. The service also sends a letter to the owner of the institution, since issues of the organization of medical care for the population belong to the competence of the local self-government body. If the chief doctor (health care institution) does not renew the patient’s rights or does not return funds for services for which the state has already paid, then the NHSHU sends letters to law enforcement agencies. In particular, to the National Police of Ukraine, prosecutor’s offices. Also, the medical facility that demanded money from the patient risks losing the contract with the National Health Service and being left without funding from the budget. If the providers of medical services do not eliminate the violations and do not provide documents that confirm the inappropriateness of the complaint, the National Health Service has the right to apply fines. For example, to return 0.1% of the amount of the contract for the relevant package of medical services for each detected case of the patient paying for free services. How to file a complaint with the NHSHU If an institution that has a contract with the NHSHU has required you to purchase medicine on your own, or to pay for services that are free under the Medical Guarantee Program and available in the National List of Essential Medicines, you can file a complaint through an electronic form on the NHSHU website. This can be done in the “Citizens” section: enter the patient’s last name, first name and patronymic, date of birth (in day, month, year format) and the date of the event that happened to the patient; enter the name of the hospital correctly; write the position, surname, name and patronymic of the person who demanded payment for medical services, medicines or other materials; describe the situation in detail: which medicines are required to be purchased from you, if possible, indicate the amount of money that you had to spend or that was required of you, attach copies of receipts for medicines or medical services that had to be purchased at your own expense; enter your contacts that will help you get in touch: phone number, email address; if you have any questions about filing a complaint, call the contact center of the NSHU at number 16-77. We will remind you that earlier we wrote about what to do when money is demanded for services or medicines. Read also: How to complain about a doctor: step-by-step INSTRUCTIONS. Terms, laws, compensation
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