Anti-Corruption Commission issued a report after conducting a corruption risk assessment into the health sector. This report was launched by Minister of Health, Iruthisham Adam in the ceremony held to mark the International Anti-Corruption Day on 9 December 2015, at Dharubaaruge.
Speaking in the ceremony, the minister said that as health sector involves a relatively large percentage of the National budget and has over 7000 employees, the sector needs to focus more on transparency. She also advised to abstain from all acts of corruption and to make the sector a trustworthy and corruption free area. Furthermore, she complimented and acknowledged the work carried out by President, members and staff of ACC to prevent corruption by identifying the risk factors. She called upon all other institutions to prepare such independent inquiries that will help to strengthen the public offices. The Anti-Corruption Commission Act (Act Number: 13/2008) mandates the Commission to carry out research on the prevention of corruption and to submit recommendations for improvement to relevant authorities regarding actions to be taken.
The main aim of this assessment was to identify corruption risks in the recruitment of doctors, nurses and other technical staff. Furthermore, it also focuses on identifying the corruption risks involved in the procurement of medical consumables, reagents and machineries. This research provides a number of recommendations in order to ensure transparency, integrity by assuring that written policies and guidelines are in place for the institutional practices. Apart from the minister, Prosecutor General, members of several independent Commissions and public office representatives were present at the ceremony.