High levels of corruption in health and education

This is the conclusion of the next table organised by the American Economic Oda in Kosovo.

Arian Zeka, Executive Director of the American Ode, said the table occurs at a time after publishing the Transparency International organisation's report, which estimates Kosovo's significant progress in terms of perception of corruption, ranking it in 10 countries better compared to last year. Despite progress, however, he said efforts should be stepped up in all cases of fighting corruption for more effective results in this regard.

Regarding health corruption, Patrick Etienne from the Swiss Office for Development and Co-operation in Kosovo said the consequences of this phenomenon are tragic because they affect lower quality services, and therefore pressure and stress in society, which is resulting in citizens leaving the country. He said the main problem lies with high state institutions in which private interest dominates that public.

Blerim Syla, chairman of the Federation of International Health, said corruption is both of individual but institutional nature, thus citing the high level in politics. He said the awareness of civil society is lacking in reporting corruption, stressing the importance of even greater media engagement. He said that despite concerns raised in this respect, the response of institutions has not been appropriate.

On the other hand, speaking on the panel on corruption in education, Arber Geci, deputy minister of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, said that compared to health, the consequences of corruption in education are slower.

Dukagjin Pupovci, director of the Kosovo Centre for Education, said the corrupting system in employing educational staff remains disturbing, both at municipal and ministerial levels. He also cited corruption in salaries in high educational institutions, stressing that the warned extraction of the wage law would help eliminate some of the problems.