Second episode of our brand new podcast series published

Today we published the second episode of our podcast series, Diagnosis: Corruption. The series has been created for users to listen to the experts we spoke to for our most recent research project. You will hear first-hand how corruption is affecting the work of individuals in the healthcare sector and how this ultimately puts patients in danger. Think of this as a crash course in understanding corruption in healthcare.

Each episode takes a look at one of the eight categories identified in the research as being a corruption hotspot and explores the key issues and notable case studies. In this episode, we examine corruption in the regulatory procedures that maintain the safety of patients in health systems.

The healthcare sector is one of the most heavily regulated sectors in many countries. Corruption in healthcare regulation is a serious issue and recognised as such – failures or breaches of regulation put patients in danger. In this podcast we hear a range of real life cases: would-be doctors paying bribes to pass medical exams, hospital closures being reversed due to political connections, and products being approved due to conflicts of interest in the panel making the decision.

We then hear experts describe how regulatory agencies may be captured by powerful groups, using the example of the US Food and Drug Administration. This is termed regulatory capture, and in these situations, powerful individuals and companies will ensure that they benefit most from the regulatory process and can dominate the healthcare sector.

We will be publishing an episode every Wednesday for the next six weeks, so subscribe if you don’t want to miss one!