Protectors of patients' rights, as well as members of ethical committees and quality control commissions in healthcare institutions, are public officials and must submit reports on assets and income, the request of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption was submitted to healthcare institutions at the end of May.
The notice on the obligation to submit reports on assets and income for these three categories of employees in health institutions was delivered to health centers throughout Montenegro, general and special hospitals, as well as the Clinical Center of Montenegro.
Such notification from the Agency was sent seven days before the Parliament adopted the amendments to the Law on Prevention of Corruption.
Commenting on the fact that the Agency, after more than eight years from the beginning of the application of the previous Law on the Prevention of Corruption, announced that the persons who control the quality of health services are officials, the Union of Doctors of Medicine (SDMCG) responded that that institution would have to focus on the functions that they have influences on millions of investments, which they promote "under the radar" for years.
"ASK has been called out on several occasions for selective treatment of public officials, mostly punishing persons for omissions that do not have strong repercussions for the public interest, while officials who have a strong influence on social processes, on large investments worth millions, remain outside the Agency's radar", they believe. SDMCG.
They remind that a public official is a person who is appointed or appointed in an institution founded by the state.
"We believe that this definition is set too broadly for the reason that it includes a large number of people, which discourages their participation in the self-regulation bodies of the profession. We are of the opinion that the control over the work of public officials should be narrowed down to those who can misuse public finances for personal gain by their decisions, or, on the other hand, the types of responsibilities for officials should be developed in accordance with the nature of the work of the position they hold", emphasized the SDMCG.
They indicate that the goal of the provisions of the Law on Prevention of Corruption must be aimed at preventing the abuse of influence that each specific function entails.
"Because the function does not have to be reflected exclusively in material benefit for the public official, but can be misused through various types of illegal influence on social processes such as: employment, promotion, obtaining consent and permits, sanctioning", they assessed.
The Union of Medical Doctors says that "it would be desirable for the law to stratify the responsibility of officials in several levels in order to prevent abuse of specific powers".
"So, for example, the members of the commission for ethical issues of the health institution, appointed by the authority, give consent to the implementation of scientific research work, and have no contact with public finances, so when performing that function, the risk can be brought under biased decision-making and approval, that is, disapproval scientific research work. Therefore, the data on the property status of the members of that commission will not tell us much about the way and legality of their function. On the other hand, the property record of the official and his family members, who is in charge of public procurement, may point to the abuse of the authority that this position carries", concludes the SDMCG.
Throughout the years of application of the previous regulations, as well as during the public debate on the adopted Law, international experts, as well as domestic organizations, warned that the definition of a public official is not precise enough.
During the public debate, the Ministry of Justice promised that they would prescribe a way to categorize public officials and their obligations in a by-law.
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