Government inspectors, officials, representatives from the Swedish Embassy of Vietnam and international donors gathered in Hanoi on November 26 to discuss measures to root out corruption in Vietnam’s health sector.

Addressing the opening of the 6th Anti-Corruption Dialogue, Swedish Ambassador Rolf Bergman said the government of Vietnam has displayed a strong political will to combat corruption in all aspects of daily life.

The country, he noted, adopted a National Anti-Corruption Strategy this May, endorsed the United Nations Convention Against Corruption and signed bilateral anti-corruption agreements with development partners such as the UN Development Programme, the European Commission, Canada, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Sweden.

“Political commitments from the government are necessary but not enough,” Ambassador Rolf Bergman said, emphasising that combating corruption in the health sector requires a combination of efforts, laws, implementation, monitoring and a change in individual behaviour and that no single measure can achieve all that is needed.

During the dialogue, Nguyen Thai Hong, Deputy Director of Department No. 3 of the Government Inspectorate, candidly spoke of existing loopholes in policies and management mechanisms in the health sector that have resulted in corruption through price-gouging for medication, taking bribes from patients or in the medical equipment procurement process.

Tran Quang Trung, Chief Inspector of the Health Ministry said his ministry has taken a series of measures to increase transparency in the policy-making process, as well as in drafting and enforcing laws. It has also integrated an anti-corruption component into training programmes for its personnel, stepped up oversight and tightened measures against the menace.

The Office of the Central Steering Committee on Anti-Corruption related that in the 3rd quarter of 2009, there were many reported cases where the chiefs of health agencies and other related units were punished for violations, including 25 cases in Binh Dinh, 8 in Hau Giang, 3 in Dong Thap among others.

Meanwhile, UNDP Policy Advisor Jairo Acuna Alfaro and Health System Advisor of the World Health Organisation, Graham Harrison, recommended that the government publicise information on health service providers, fees for medication and treatment, and prices of medicine and medical equipment. They also suggested that patients should be better informed of their right to access information concerning their treatment.

The Anti-Corruption Dialogue is a regular forum for Vietnamese government agencies and development partners to discuss and exchange ideas about efforts to combat the problem in the country. (VNA)