A new study conducted by the Yuksalish National Movement shed light on the complex and multifaceted problem of corruption risks in Uzbekistan's primary healthcare sector. This was reported by Upl.uz.
The results of a survey conducted among nearly five thousand citizens participating in the study show a significant discrepancy between the official positions of patients and healthcare workers. Every seventh patient acknowledges the existence of informal payments, while the majority of healthcare workers participating in the survey, namely 56 percent, emphasize that there is no corruption in the field.
A total of 4,800 respondents were involved in the survey across the country. Among them, 1,968 were potential patients, and 2,900 were employees of healthcare institutions.
As noted by Yuksalish experts, corruption in healthcare not only undermines trust in the healthcare system but also obstructs citizens' right to receive quality and affordable medical care. This issue is one of the pressing matters for the republic.
The survey participants among patients were evenly distributed between urban and rural residents, with 49 percent being urban and 51 percent from rural areas, ensuring the representativeness of the data across the country. Analysis of the responses shows that 65 percent of citizens believe that informal payments or gifts are not given when visiting polyclinics and family doctor points.
At the same time, 15 percent of survey participants reported paying healthcare workers for services that should be free by law. Fourteen percent of participants refused to answer directly, while 6 percent ignored the question altogether.
Among those who confirmed informal payments, 152 individuals stated that they did this voluntarily as "gratitude," 93 individuals indicated that it was directly requested by healthcare workers, and in 49 cases, there was mutual agreement between the parties. This indicates the formation of a system of informal rules.
Despite personal experiences, opinions in society about the prevalence of corruption in healthcare vary. Only 17 percent consider this situation widespread, 39 percent believe it occurs "from time to time," 23 percent say it "rarely happens," and 20 percent responded that it "never happens."
Citizens identified informal payments for maternity hospital services, requests for prescriptions from certain pharmaceutical companies, and "gratitude" payments for operations funded by the state budget as examples of corruption. When asked what measures to take when faced with inappropriate demands, 37 percent expressed readiness to contact the relevant authorities, 34 percent preferred to report corruption, 13 percent stated they would not contact anyone, and 16 percent could not provide a clear answer.
Patients indicated low salaries, the societal norm of "gratitude" to doctors, lack of information, and low levels of digitization as the main reasons that drive healthcare workers to engage in illegal actions. The level of job satisfaction among healthcare workers presents a mixed picture: 36 percent are fully satisfied, 40 percent are somewhat satisfied, 15 percent expressed complete dissatisfaction, and 9 percent could not provide a rating.
The most interesting result is that 56 percent of healthcare workers believe that there is no corruption in their field, while 29 percent answered "I don't know"
