The Effect of Corrupt Practices in Health Care Delivery Systems: A Case Study of Bayelsa State
- August 18, 2020
- Posted by: RSIS
- Categories: Economics, IJRISS
International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume IV, Issue VII, July 2020 | ISSN 2454–6186
The Effect of Corrupt Practices in Health Care Delivery Systems: A Case Study of Bayelsa State
Wisdom Selekekeme Krokeyi, Ben Tantua
Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences, Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island, Bayelsa State.
Abstract: The term ‘Corruption’ in Nigeria remains a critical concern for many. It has eaten deep into the fabric of the countries socio-cultural and political economy lifestyle/governance systems. This paper examines the impact of corrupt practices in the health systems of Bayelsa state. It adopted a number of instruments such stratified sampling techniques, chi square tests, charts and primary questionnaire to respondents in 8 LGAs in generating and analysing data. The results showed that 53% respondents (non-practitioners) paid for visiting health facility which indicates that non-practitioners at the grassroots do pay extra for services that ought to be free. Also, 22% respondents (practitioners) agreed paying to be posted to different healthcare facility. This is also a clear exhibition of corruption in the healthcare sector which affect quality healthcare service delivery in Bayelsa state as medical practitioners such as nurses, doctors, and public health workers pay money to be posted to lucrative health centres. Thus, the hypothesis that corruption has no significant impact on healthcare delivery in Bayelsa State is rejected with the conclusion that corruption has a significant impact on healthcare delivery in Bayelsa state based on the perception of non-practitioners. The study recommends that the federal government should sustain its fight against corruption in the health sector of Nigeria. This recommendation is made to mitigate cog in the wheel of quality healthcare services delivery in Bayelsa State in particular and Nigeria in general.
Keywords: Bayelsa, corruption, healthcare, practitioners, non-practitioners.
I. INTRODUCTION
Public discuss in recent times are centered on the rising issues of misappropriation, mismanagement and unaccountability in public finance and implementation, that are attributed to corrupt practices. More so, corrupt practices have become a disease that has eaten deep into the cultural, socio-political and economic fabric of most developing societies. In addition, the poor state of electricity supply, transport and education in Nigeria are attributed to the rising level of corrupt practices in these sectors which further hinders economic growth. Corruption in Nigeria is often profound in Government public investments, revenues, areas of maintenance and public infrastructure, which directly or indirectly impact on the quality of social infrastructure such as health care services.
