NGO Mladiinfo Montenegro has set up a booth today at the City Square in Nikšić as a part of the Project “Think Local, Act Local! Combating Corruption at the Local Level “, implemented by the Center for Civic Education in cooperation with the Center for Investigative Reporting, NGO “Bonum” from Pljevlja, NGO “Inkubator” from Kotor and financed by EU.
The aim of the activity was to inform citizens about corruption and how to report it. A report on corruption in health institutions in the municipality of Niksic was given by the Mladiinfo Montenegro as part of the ‘Penicillin for Corruption’ project.
The citizens expressed great interest. They approached the booth, took educational materials, but also commented that corruption is omnipresent and that they don’t believe that it can be prevented, let alone eradicated. Majority of citizens believe that corruption is increasing, especially in state institutions, but also in health care. They also agree with the claims in the Corruption Report on health institutions in Niksic, made by Mladiinfo Montenegro after a one-month monitoring during February this year.
During the one-month monitoring of the health care institutions in Niksic, journalists reported several cases in which a member of the medical staff received a gift from the patient. The survey data showed that the inhabitants of Niksic often have to wait for up to three months for certain medical examinations, and for more than two weeks for laboratory reports.
Biochemical laboratory of the Niksic Health Center is crowded on daily basis. Some of the patients said their appointments were scheduled in 10 or 15 days. While people believe that their patients’ rights are not respected enough, half of them do not know who the Protector of Patients’ Rights is, nor how to address him. Most people who know about the role of the Protector and his identity claim that there is no point in addressing him. Monitoring as well as the report itself were part of the Penicillin for Corruption.
The term corruption is derived from the Latin word (corrumpere) which means to destroy, spoil, weaken, and decompose. Corruption entails an abuse of public authority for private gain, a misuse of public or private goods, for personal or other certain interests. It can be found in all areas and at all levels of social life, in legal, public, academic, civil and political sectors. The goal of any anti-corruption strategy is to make corruption a punishable, unprofitable and unacceptable way of social behavior. Facing citizens with the negative moral, political and economic effects of corruption is the first step in the fight against it.
