Corruption allegations

The allegations, which both the association of German hospitals (DKG) and the central organization of medical self-administration (BAEK) say hold some truth, have sent waves of outrage rippling through Germany.

Health Minister Ulla Schmidt has called for a quick investigation into the claims. In an interview with the Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger newspaper, she said the practice of hospitals paying doctors for particularly lucrative admissions was harmful to patients.

Schmidt stressed that it was now up to medical associations to find out just how deep-seated such corruption is.

Deputy Health Minister Klaus Theo Schroeder told public broadcaster ARD that where there was "real evidence," charges would be brought. But he said he did not see any need to change the laws currently in place to protect against corruption in the medical industry.

Gray areas

Dina Michels of KKH health insurers said there was an urgent need to tighten legislation. She told the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper that she had never come across a case of a doctor being prosecuted on corruption charges.

Michels says doctors are not only engaged in dubious dealings with hospitals, but with health product retailers as well. She said that in exchange for contracts, some doctors might have their assistants paid for while others might receive a leased car for their wives.

The association of German hospitals, however, says politicians are at least partially to blame for the current situation. The DKG's managing director, Georg Baum, told N24 television news channel that politicians should stop commercializing the relationship between doctors and treatment.

He said schemes by which doctors were rewarded for making medication savings or for not admitting patients to hospital, were teaching them to think in "economic terms."

tkw/KNA/dpa/AP
Editor: Chuck Penfold