Corruption in the Eu

“Please don’t give bribes to hospital staff, I mean, what could they possibly do??”  These words? Mine! And infamous they now are! This is what I said to my Romanian husband in Bucharest. I told him that we couldn’t go complaining about abusive, corrupt policemen in Bulgaria to the Ombudsman if he would then become a hypocrite and do the same in his own country.

I tried to rationalize:  what would happen if a Romanian came to the UK and needed to correct their deviated septum?  Would they have to wait longer than a British person?  Would they have to pay anything?  Would they get less treatment or worse treatment?

We all know that in theory the NHS is a good idea but doesn’t work as well as it could, however, that doesn’t detract from the fact that everyone gets treated the same. I’m sure if a patient was connected with a doctor in the UK, he/she wouldn’t get extra pain relief whilst those in the bed next to him/her suffered in silence.

I have spent some time in Romania since 1994, around one and a half years altogether. Bribes and corruption were always on the tip of people’s tongues but the word ‘bani’ (money) was perhaps the most used word of all. 

When I first came to Romania (Dr Tr Severin) in 1994, it was in its fifth year of moving away from a communistic regime.  I was only 21 years old at the time but soon learnt that there was a black market and ‘people connections/networks’.  However, I was young and didn’t really see the relevance of it all; even when I was rushed to hospital with an infection. I managed to get treated as my host family knew the director of that hospital. I would have loved to have comprehended the situation and tell everyone that I would wait in a sensible queuing system for my turn. Unfortunately pain and incoherence didn’t allow that (besides the fact I would have got trampled on by people who could bend rules as there is no system of queuing), and if truth be told, I never really got to grips with the seriousness of the system until now, until I saw my husband suffer at the hands of people that treated their patients no better than the way some people treat animals …. badly.

Romania has a system not too dissimilar (in theory) from the NHS. The patient doesn’t pay directly for their treatment; the employer pays or if elderly or a student (like my husband, a student, not elderly) the government pays.  That means, in theory, that no money should exchange hands. NOT the case. Crazy amounts of money change hands, all in the name of bribes.

I have been fascinated in the last months at how this bribing works, how the money, or wine, or chocolate etc is ‘passed over’. I have witnessed it now on several occasions. Everyone is doing it, it’s a way of life as people have normalized it.  What fascinates me all the more is that no one truly knows who is a ‘real doctor’ or a ‘real teacher’ or a ‘real police person’ etc because masses of people bribe their way through their education, jobs and trouble.  I came to my own personal conclusion: the reason the traffic is so bad in Bucharest is because no one knows how to drive their brand new, expensive cars properly as they probably bribed their instructor to pass.

I also learnt, as the policeman directly told my husband, that he is paying for a three year law degree in order to further his career. Let me interpret that for those not in the loop. He has paid for two years of a three year degree so far….in bribes. This man has not attended and does not intend attending his classes. He just pays for it instead. It will mean, on ‘completion’ he will get a significant pay rise from the police force.

Before I entered the hospital to visit my husband, I was given my usual instructions of ‘keep your mouth shut’.  Basically the idea is: if they find out I am English, they will put more pressure on my husband to give money. However, he had not given anything, which is why I was visiting him for his routine operation. I never wanted to step foot in the hospital because I didn’t want to have to deal with the attitudes that I still have not gotten used to here in Bucharest and because I am English.

After five minutes of being in the hospital, it was evident that my husband was being punished for not bribing.  There were two other patients in the room, one was a policeman who had contacts which meant he didn’t have to bribe and the other who gave the equivalent of 80 pounds. This is how it was broken up:

40 for the doctor

20 for the anesthetist

10 for a nurse

10 for another nurse.

But of course, that was all before the operation; post operation would include the porter who would hold the patient precariously over the bed and demand a bottle of wine, hence insinuating he would drop the patient otherwise. Plus the cleaner, to take away the rubbish and all the other nurses and assistant nurses who would come to their shifts over the week(s).

My husband was in a great deal of pain after the operation as were the other two men. However, they were given painkillers through the intravenous that was kept in their arm after their operation. My husband was given tablets as his intravenous was withdrawn after his operation.  He complained that the tablets hurt his heart but the answer given was that it’s normal and that it’s because he is thin and that he hadn’t eaten (straight after the operation).  I could see the man in the next bed (who had bribed) get better by the minute whilst my husband got sicker and sicker, developed a fever, couldn’t sleep because of the pain and fever and couldn’t eat because of it.  The situation got so bad that he called me to the hospital for the third time that day to stay with him through the night as he was scared that if he slept: he wouldn’t wake up.  At this point, and I agreed, he said he would offer a bribe to the doctor first thing the next morning if it meant he would feel better. However he was ‘lucky’ the next morning as she removed the packing from his nose which relieved the pressure and pain.

My husband professed: those that bribe don’t actually get treated that much better in terms of how they are talked to and respected, but they get the treatment that everyone deserves.  One doesn’t have to speak Romanian to understand that most of the patients get treated roughly, disrespectfully and like naughty children. The power and urge to bribe more is all too much for the people that work their. This was evident when I asked my husband why he puts up with the way they talk to him. He said that there is not a lot you can do when they have a needle stuck in your arm or bottom or you know they will be dressing your wound later.

If it wasn’t for a resident doctor and the odd nurse, I am not sure my husband would have gotten better. I am also not sure who knew that he refused to bribe. He suspected that the doctor didn’t know how to understand him, as everyone bribes. She knew that he wasn’t stupid, yet he never gave away anything, any information. My husband believes that the only way to survive in Romania (to get through this year) is to keep his mouth shut, mention nothing about living and working in England (for fear of jealousy and demands) and to keep his head down.  The doctor was perplexed by this but it still seemed that she was holding out for a bribe as she let the other two patients leave and kept my husband.

In the UK, it is not a requirement that patients stay even a night for the same operation. It is done through out-patients. My husband’s room mates stayed an unnecessary six days whilst my husband stayed twelve, AND all have to return many, many times for cleaning of the nose.

If my husband’s family and friends would have known that he hadn’t bribed, they would have probably tried to get him sectioned, or at the least, would have gone around to all involved and given what my husband refused to give. They would have done this purely to see their son/brother get better quickly and to avoid suffering. Which of course, at some point made me feel very guilty and doubt my convition?  However, I am very proud to say that my husband didn’t bribe, even though he was close to it because of fear and pain.

If he had been in a British hospital, he would have been given information before entering the hospital about his stay, how long he would be there, what to bring etc. None of that was done here. My husband had to send a friend out to buy all the drops and serums, syringes etc that he needed post op.  The other two patients had already bought these items as they were informed.

In a British hospital, the medicines would have been administered for him, not thrown at him with curt instructions then a telling off because they were administered wrongly.

I know the NHS is far from perfect, but I can’t imagine them letting a young man of 26 deteriorate into what looked like a senior citizen over a week. I am sure they wouldn’t have watched him suffer; salivating at the thought of a bribe and then implement suffering if their desires were not met.

The part that fascinates me most is that these people are God fearing people with their Orthodox Christian religion and traditions that are tight and must not be deviated from otherwise there will be disrespect for the whole family and I assume the threat of a place after death that doesn’t resemble heaven.  However, from what I can assume, and although I am not a ‘believer’, I am sure once these people stand at the pearly gates, God won’t be saying, ‘Hey there, come on in, you helped people to suffer, as my son suffered and that makes you a good and worthy person. You took control of my job and that means you have a special place at my side!’ 

Two other ideas crossed my mind whilst witnessing my husband suffer. I assume, and it is an assumption, that if these doctors, porters, nurses etc were watching suffering or torture on the news, they would be sitting there tutting (as is their want), saying how awful it is.  The other thought was, the average Romanian hates gypsies and do not want to be associated with them as they steal, cheat and are immoral etc.  I don’t need to complete either of these thoughts, as that would simply be patronising.

I keep asking myself how these people sleep at night, after studying ethics and taking on a job that is supposed to involve compassion?

However, after everything, I do understand. I understand that these people know nothing else and have normalized corruption in order to get on with their lives. Money is the root and centre of everything here. No one troubles themselves with job satisfaction or perseveres and works hard for an easier future or marries a poorer person purely out of love. It’s very much Gestalt, about the here and now. How am I feeling now? What do I want now? And they will do anything to get it.  This is how it has been for as long as they can remember. The politicians are corrupt so why should the people be any different. 

I don’t believe this is a grass roots problem.  I believe the politicians need to act now, begin to get in line with Europe and start to direct the people.  After all, if everyone stopped bribing, everyone’s money would be their own.

I am now just doing everything I can to keep healthy, and I will do all I can to keep my husband from returning to hospital.

Unfortunately, deep down, we both knew that we should have waited to return to the UK to do this operation.  He has worked honestly, paid his taxes, his NI contributions etc so we should have waited.

I believe that very soon, the UK will be inundated with people coming for hospital treatment from corrupt countries that join the EU. And if I were Romanian and had cancer or needed a serious operation, I would too. As one friend who had cancer here was bribed out of thousands of Euros as she kept getting told the Chemo machine had broken, therefore if she wanted treatment, she needed to pay to fix it.  Another friend of my husband is about to have an operation on his back.  He has been warned to bring several hundred euros. 

The stories here are endless and sickening (excuse the pun). But for hundreds of pounds, they could stay in London in a decent hotel and get the treatment done free.  BUT, if you are a Western European, I wouldn’t take the risk of being in this country if you think there is a possibility you could get sick. You will be out of pocket in no time (at the least).  And if that were ever to be the case, I would continuously threaten to get in touch with the British Embassy in Bucharest. 

For me, I am simply rarely leaving the house and making sure I don’t insert plugs with wet hands and keeping objects well away from my nose!!!