Create and Broadcast Social Advertisements That Target Corruption in the Healthcare System (LT0018)

Status quo or problem addressed by the commitment Until now, awareness has been raised only across healthcare institutions, by handing out stickers with a slogan: “The best gratitude to a doctor is a smile of a patient and a word of thanks”. It had no effect, however, on the general public and potential patients. Main objective To reduce factors for the rise and spread of corruption in healthcare system. To publish regular information about measures for corruption prevention in order to reduce informal payments and eradicate conditions for the rise of corruption, as well as the risks for the rise of corruption in healthcare system. Brief description of commitment Publicity on corruption prevention in healthcare system will be created and will be broadcast every year by 31 December 2019. In order to apply targeted anti-corruption measures, a strategy to implement anti-corruption publicity (corruption prevention in healthcare system) will be created. A plan of measures will be drawn up: aims and objectives for anti-corruption publicity will be set, specific entities responsible for drafting and provision of anti-corruption information to its disseminators will be appointed, broadcasting intensity will be scheduled, and budget for drafting and dissemination of information will be planned. The anti-corruption publicity implementation system (strategy) is necessary to seek that awareness-raising and education campaigns were carried out systemically and involved several mass media technologies, in order to achieve larger coverage of the information disseminated. A package of audio-visual measures will be developed.

4. To create and broadcast social advertisements that target corruption in the healthcare system

Commitment Text:

Publicity on corruption prevention in healthcare system will be created and will be broadcast every year by 31 December 2019. In order to apply targeted anti-corruption measures, a strategy to implement anti-corruption publicity (corruption prevention in healthcare system) will be created. A plan of measures will be drawn up: aims and objectives for anti-corruption publicity will be set, specific entities responsible for drafting and provision of anti-corruption information to its disseminators will be appointed, broadcasting intensity will be scheduled, and budget for drafting and dissemination of information will be planned. The anti-corruption publicity implementation system (strategy) is necessary to seek that awareness-raising and education campaigns were carried out systemically and involved several mass media technologies, in order to achieve larger coverage of the information disseminated. A package of audio-visual measures will be developed.

Milestone:

4.1. A package of audio-visual measures to prevent corruption in healthcare system has been drafted.

Responsible institution: Ministry of Health

Supporting institution: Special Investigation Service

Start date: 1 January 2016

End date: 31 December 2016

Context and Objectives

According to sociological research by the Special Investigative Service, Lithuania’s health care system is one of the most corrupt sectors in the country, with patients frequently giving bribes to health care providers for better treatment.[Note: Lithuanian Map of Corruption, Special Investigative Service, 2016, https://goo.gl/974GZG. ] Among European countries, Romanian and Lithuanian citizens are most likely to pay a bribe for services in the health care sector.[Note: Special Eurobarometer Survey on Corruption, European Commission, Directorate-General for Home Affairs, 2014, https://goo.gl/S88bGn. ] 21 percent of Lithuanian residents say they have had to pay a bribe or give a gift or hospital donation in the past few years.[Note: Special Eurobarometer Survey on Corruption, European Commission, Directorate-General for Home Affairs, 2014, https://goo.gl/S88bGn. ] Public procurement in health care is also vulnerable to corruption, mainly due to high knowledge asymmetry and shadow lobbying. According to the Public Procurement Office, 16 percent of all procurement funds are allocated to health care.[Note: Analysis of public procurements in health care, Public Procurement Office, 2015, https://goo.gl/MVXkUq. ] The Lithuanian government acknowledged the problem in 2016 and set a goal to reduce corruption in health care by more than one half (from 24 percent to 10 percent by 2020) as part of its National Anti-Corruption Program.[Note: The Action plan of the program of Lithuanian Government, No. 167, 2017, https://goo.gl/A8ACwM. ]

To reduce corruption in the health care system, this commitment calls on the Ministry of Health to create and broadcast social advertisements that will provide citizens with anti-corruption information. The commitment is taken directly from the National Anti-Corruption Program and copied to the OGP action plan. However, the commitment does not specify what information will be included in these advertisements, or how the advertisements will be disseminated (apart from 'audio-visual measures'), thus the specificity is low. Also, given the scale and scope of the problem of health care corruption, the dissemination of social advertisements as described in the commitment will only have a minor potential impact on this issue. Martynas Gedminas, the CEO at the Association of Young Doctors, noted that advertisements might change public perception of corruption slightly, but the Ministry should cooperate with doctors who could publicly say that bribes are not tolerated in their working space.[Note: Martyas Gedminas, Association of Young Doctors, interview by IRM researcher, 25 September 2017.]

Completion

The Ministry of Health has not yet begun the implementation of the commitment. Nadezda Buinickiene, the assistant to the minister, informed the IRM researcher that the Ministry of Health is preparing a project proposal for the European Social Fund Agency to secure the funding.[Note: Nadezda Buinickiene, the Ministry of Health, interview by IRM researcher, 19 September 2017.] The deadline for applications is 15 November 2017.[Note: Official invitation for the Ministry of Health to apply for European Social Fund Agency, No. 00621, a copy of invitation obtained by IRM researcher.]

At the time of writing (September 2017), the proposal was not finalized and did not have concrete activities within the commitment confirmed.

Next Steps

The commitment is only one of several measures taken by the Government of Lithuania to address corruption in the health care system. Although it might play an important role together with other anticorruption tools, as written, this commitment is not in line with any OGP values. For this reason, the IRM researcher does not recommend carrying it forward to the next action plan.

For commitment detail, see the reports: Lithuania End-Term Report 2016-2018 (Lithuanian) and Lithuania End-Term Report 2016-2018 (English)