Transparency International proposes same status for public officials and hospital physicians
Transparency International Germany wants same recognition for salaried hospital physicians and general practitioners as public officials.
Anti-corruption organisation Transparency Germany has proposed that established general practitioners should be given the same status of public officials as hospital physicians.
In the current situation, pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers try to influence general practitioners with gifts, marketing support and other aid. These opportunities would be significantly reduced by the public official status and cash contributions to established doctors could then be liable to prosecution. For example, general practitioners would not be able to receive ancillary revenues from the industry in their observational studies. Similarly, the current practice of hospitals paying a “prime” to a doctor when this doctor directs patients to the hospital would stop.
Dr. Angela Spelsberg, board member of Transparency Germany, stated that the field in which doctors work is very prone to gifts and offers from the healthcare industry and that it is nearly impossible to escape this flow of gifts, which is seen by medical professionals as normal and inevitable. However a regulation like the one proposed should provide physicians with clear legal guidelines that do not permit them to accept gifts in any form.
Furthermore, Transparency Germany welcomed the decision of the Court of Braunschweig of 23.02.2010 to view doctors as agents of health insurances and therefore subject to Section 299 of the Criminal Code. They could then be prosecuted for bribery and corruption in trade law. This was seen by Transparency Germany as a first step in the right direction in order to stop the inequality of doctors which had been so often criticized by the organisation.