NEW DELHI: The Indian government ordered on Saturday a review of activities at all state-owned hospitals to end what the health minister called systemic corruption, as part of the Modi administration’s crackdown on malpractice in the healthcare sector.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has vowed to eradicate graft in India’s $74 billion healthcare industry, where doctors receiving extra payments for referring patients to a particular clinic or receiving gifts from companies for prescribing their drugs are common.

“There are many aspects to corruption in hospitals which as a medico I know exist,” Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said in a statement.

“If money is made in the allocation of beds or as kickbacks from suppliers, it is sleaze. What is equally corrupt is the silent practice of reserving beds and facilities for employees or VIPs.

“In my first 90 days in office, hardly a day has passed without inquiring into the transparency of the ministry and its outposts. Very soon the results are going to be in the public domain,” he said.

The statement said that Mr Vardhan had placed all systems in the central hospitals... “under critical review to end systemic and symptomatic corruption”.

Private companies dominate India’s healthcare system, while government hospitals are overcrowded and lack the resources to cater to growing demand.

Though the industry is growing at 15 per cent per year according to consulting firm PwC, public spending on healthcare has stagnated at about 1 per cent of gross domestic product for years.

That compares to 3 per cent in China and 8.3 per cent in the United States, according to a World Bank database for 2012.

The review ordered on Saturday would also apply to New Delhi’s premier All India Institute of Medical Sciences, where thousands of patients queue up daily for subsidised treatment.

The government crackdown began last month after a media report exposed alleged kickback arrangements between diagnostic laboratories and doctors in the capital.

In recent months, leading doctors and advocacy groups have teamed up to try to root out corruption from the system, forming anti-graft panels at hospitals and writing open letters to the government.

Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2014