The Ministry of Health and the National Health Insurance Company (CNAM) area launching the nationwide campaign “Health insurance protects you. Don’t give bribe!” in a move to combat corruption and to inform society, IPN reports.

Within the campaign, the authorities will encourage the population not to give bribe in medical institutions as they will be as guilty as those that take bribe if they make informal payments. Under the Penal Code, the persons who give bribe face up to six years in jail, while those who take bribe are liable to up to seven years behind bars.

In all the medical institutions, there will be posted informative posters with anticorruption messages. The people will be encouraged to make payments for medical services only at the institution’s pay desk and to ask for the receipt. The will be also disseminated radio and TV advertisements.

In the conference held to launch the campaign, Minister of Health Andrei Usatyi said the people in Moldova offer additional payments to the medical personnel in order to be sure that they enjoy services of a high quality. “The phenomenon becomes absurd,” he stated.

According to the minister, the mandatory health insurance system in Moldova covers 83.7% of the population and nobody should enjoy preferential treatment. In the primary and hospital medicine, the persons benefit from gratis drugs on the family doctor’s recommendation. “The persons who undergo transplant operations, heart surgery or other difficult operations must not pay money additionally. The medical devices were bought with public money,” said Andrei Usatyi.

CNAM director general Mircea Buga said the campaign is designed to have an impact first of all on the beneficiaries of medical services and to help the institutions involved.

The people are urged to report cases of corruption in medical institutions on (022)25-72-57 (National Anticorruption Center), (022)22-66-48 (Prosecutor General’s Office), 080099999 (CNAM), or on (022)71-10-10 (Ministry of Health).