Dear friends, good morning!
The apology offered yesterday by Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis, to the patient in the “bribe” incidenthas limited political or other value as long as the conditions thatgive rise tosuch phenomena remain active within the National Health System itself.
Because the problem is not justa corrupt doctor. It is a system thathas for years allowed such practices to survive.
Nor is this the first—and certainly not the last—time that an incident of bribery involving a doctor in the public health system has come to light. It iscertain. The “bribe” is one of the mostenduringillsofthe National Health System, precisely because it thrives on a foundation of constant pressure, waiting, and insecurity for the patient.
Months-long delays for surgeries, the ordeal of emergency room visits, staff shortages, and the malfunctions of an overburdened system create an environment in which the opportunist canmore easilyextort the patient. This, of course, does not mean that the dysfunction of the National Health System automatically “produces” corrupt doctors. Corruption remainsapersonalchoice. However, the conditions of vulnerability and distress faced by citizens make such behavioreasierto engage in and oftenharderto report.
Regardless of what is ultimately proven regarding this particular anesthesiologist, the case goes beyond him personally. Moreover, the public statement by POEDIN President Michalis Giannakos was particularly significant, as he called on citizens toreportsimilar incidents of extortion.
Even more significant, however, was his observation that this particular doctor had been the subject of complaints in the past due to his behavior. And this is precisely where the fundamental question arises:how many more healthcare professionalswithsimilar skeletons in their closets continue toservein a system on which citizens’ health—and often their very lives—depend?
The real scandal is not just that some people ask for “bribes.” It is that they ask for them from citizens who havealready paid—and paid dearly—for public healthcarethrough taxes and insurance premiums. Citizens fund the system so they can havedecentaccess to healthcare services when they need them. And yet, in many cases, they are faced not only with delays and waiting times but also with the feeling that without “special favors,” their case may never proceed with the speed required by their health condition.
That is why the issue cannot be reduced topubliccondemnationsorministers’apologiesevery time an incident gains publicity. The question runs deeper and concerns the overall functioning of the National Health System. For as long as the same conditions of delay, hardship, and administrative weakness persist, the ground for such phenomena will remain fertile.
The “bribe” is not merely an individual aberration. It is the moment when the citizen realizes that, in the face of anxiety about their health, the state itself is unable to protect them even within the public system that they themselves fund.
In short, the problem is not merely that there are corrupt officials. The real problem is when an entire system allows them to operate virtually unchecked for years.