Some Things Are Rarely Discussed in Public – on the Discourse of Corruption in Healthcare; Comment on “We Need to Talk About Corruption in Health Systems”

Abstract

In an editorial titled “We Need to Talk About Corruption in Health Systems" the authors Hutchinson, Balabanova, and McKee hope to encourage a wider conversation about corruption in the health sector. Such conversations are difficult to hold for at least five reasons; it is hard to define corruption; corruption may allow some fragile health systems to subsist, shifting blame – are those involved in anti-corruption research colluding with corrupt officials; the legitimacy of studying corruption; and, that far too little is known about how to tackle corruption. This commentary explores those reasons and concludes that the authors make a strong case for a more open and directed discussion about corruption.