10 people arrested on suspicion of corruption at Sveti Duh hospital

Several employees of the Sveti Duh Clinical Hospital in Zagreb have been arrested on suspicion of corruption in an operation by the USKOK office for prevention of corruption and organized crime. In addition to doctors, they also include nurses and technical staff.

The arrested employees of the hospital are suspected of taking money from patients in order to push them through waiting lists for examinations, operations, opening fake sick leaves, and some were allegedly favored with false documentation to postpone the execution of prison sentences.

Interior Minister Davor Božinović confirmed that they have been investigating corruption crimes for several months.

“Some are employees of a health care institution, there are also people who cooperated with them, we'll see what this all includes. In general all of them have been arrested and I assume that by the end of the day police will file criminal charges and take them to detention office,” said the minister.

The arrest of the employees also came as an unpleasant surprise to the hospital administration.

“Unequivocally we condemn any form of criminal acts, especially corruption which is today a sickness of society. The constant fight against corruption is continuous and must be unequivocal, regardless of anyone's position, or any individual who has any function. As the management we will strive to preserve the integrity and dignity of all of our employees, there are 1,800 of them here, who honorable do their job, but another important thing is that we will protect the rights of our patients and families who have been coming here for so many years,” said hospital director Edvard Galić.

The Ministry of Health also issued a statement:

The Ministry of Health strongly condemns any form of illegal, unethical and corrupt behavior in the healthcare system of the Republic of Croatia. Every form of corruption has its own name. Abuse of public trust and professional responsibility, especially in healthcare institutions, is an extremely unacceptable and harmful act that undermines the integrity of the entire healthcare system and destroys the trust of citizens, said the ministry.

The Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Health, Ivana Kekin from the Možemo party, said that every citizen of this country must be horrified when they hear something like this, but that no one is shocked.

“If we have a case where the Croatian Health Insurance Bureau itself pays numerous polyclinics for examinations because there is a long waiting list, then in a certain manner you have legalized corruption in the healthcare system,” said Kekin.

And the Chair of the Committee on Justice, Nikola Grmoja from the MOST party emphasized that every honest citizen of Croatia is fed up with corruption.

“Corruption in healthcare is the ugliest because people's lives are in question, where people want to exercise the right to an examination or something and taking money for that is scandalous, but nothing should surprise after the minister of health was involved in an affair,” said Grmoja.

The Sveti Duh Clinical Hospital has said that they fully support the relevant institutions in conducting an independent and thorough investigation, and they will provide the relevant bodies with all necessary documentation and information.

Source: HRT