Palestinian patients cannot get medical care without paying large backhanders
A whistleblower has revealed how he was sacked from his job at the Palestinian Authority Health Ministry after he tried to clean up corruption in the system.
Speaking to the JC at his home in Halhul, near Hebron, Dr Haitham al-Hidri described how he tried to put a stop to the widespread practice of bribery for acccess to Israeli hospitals.
“I began following up every case, seeing what treatments people were getting to ensure there was accountability, auditing how much was being spent,” he said.
“I talked to doctors in the West Bank and in Gaza. And I learnt about the bribes. One official was charging patients up to $3,000 (2,500) to get on the transfer list.”
His efforts, he said, cost him his job. “They made me a scapegoat,” he said.
Saleem Nawati, 16, died of cancer due to corruption and incompetence
His work began in 2018, when the PA health ministry asked Dr al-Hidri, an experienced surgeon, to take charge of its Special Purchase Unit (SPU), the body in charge of referring patients to private Palestinian hospitals and to Israel.
It was there that he discovered that without powerful friends, patients needing advanced treatments only available in Israel were being asked for bribes.
In some cases, Dr al-Hidri said, “the patient would sit weeping in front of the person responsible in a coffee shop, while he calmly smoked a hookah”.
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