Topic Guide: Corruption in Health Services

Codes of conduct for physicians date back as far as the Hippocratic Oath. Raising ethical standards among health professionals, including regulators, medical practitioners, pharmacists and health administrators can be done through the promotion of codes of conduct combined with ethical training across the health system. These codes can be developed by professional bodies, such as doctors’ associations, or published by health ministries. They should cover the prevention of conflicts of interest, provide for effective and dissuasive sanctions for breaches of the code and include enforcement mechanisms overseen by an independent body. Sanctions for non-compliance can range from debarment from practising and temporary or permanent revocation of licences to fines and criminal sanctions. 

It is also important that pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device companies commit to refraining from bribery, adopt and enforce robust anti-corruption programmes and policies such as Transparency International’s Business Principles for Countering Bribery. Codes of conduct should disqualify individuals or groups with interests in the manufacturer from participating in clinical drug trials. Similarly, regulators and medical licensing authorities need to define specific conflict of interest rules for physicians, regulate the promotion of medicines, restrict the ability of doctors to overprescribe drugs, and ensure closer monitoring of relationships between health departments and the pharmaceutical industry.[1]