Georgian Parliament discusses a bill aimed to combat corruption among doctors

This week the Parliament of Georgia began considering the bill, aimed to address the problem of conspiracy between doctors and pharmaceutical companies, when a doctor is bribed to prescribe medications of a certain company with which he or she has a secret contract.

In accordance with the bill, the notion of "regulation of interest incompatibility" will be introduced into medical practice. Should the bill be successful, amendments will be made in several laws aimed at curbing corruption among doctors.

As noted by Giya Khuroshvili, Parliamentary Secretary of the Government, the law sets the rules on what exactly is the interest incompatibility and what rules shall be observed by employees in the medical sphere, the "Echo of the Caucasus" reports.

Thus, according to the bill, firstly, a doctor is forbidden to enter into agreement with pharmaceutical companies, and, secondly, doctors are not allowed to prescribe medicines to their patients while lobbying the interests of pharmaceutical companies. Thirdly, when appointing a drug, a physician will have to acquaint the patient with a broad variety of drugs from different manufacturers. Fourthly, a doctor shall not prescribe drugs in the letterhead of a pharmaceutical company.

Besides, the bill also stipulates that a physician will be required to register in writing all the provided services and reflect full information, including when he or she renders services not in the workplace.

A violation of the document will entail a fine imposed on the doctor or medical institution in the amount of 1000 laris (GEL). A repeated violation will double the fine, the "Georgia Online" reports.

The director general of the trade union of doctors said in his comment on the bill that encouraging conspiracies of physicians and pharmacists should be excluded; however, there is a need to seek possibilities to increase doctors' salaries.