All kinds of criminals have sights on health sector -Cantone

(see related) (ANSA) - Rome, April 6 - Raffaele Cantone, the head of anti-corruption agency ANAC, said Wednesday that the health sector was being targeted by a wide range of criminals. "The health sector is a territory of raids for criminals of all kind, given the enormous amount of business involved and the fact that in a time of crisis the sector cannot be underestimated," Cantone said at the presentation of a report on graft in this field. "(In Italy) we have a health system that guarantees very high standards, but one should consider the fact that this (graft) lowers the level of services".
    He said one of the key issues was long waiting lists, which can contribute to corruption, with patients being invited to pay to get around them, as allegedly emerged in a case this week involving doctors in the southern city of Salerno.
    "We have put many new measures into place to fight corruption in the health sector," he said at an event for the first national day against corruption in health.
    "We have drafted guidelines and identified the areas where it is necessary to intervene.
    "The first of these is the waiting lists, as well as areas linked to the pharmaceutical companies and even the management of the mortuaries. "It would be good if the waiting lists could be transparent, but that's difficult as privacy values are at stake.
    "But we have to intervene and cases like those in Salerno disturb me.
    "In our anti-corruption plan we have indicated the waiting lists to be one of most critical areas.
    "It's necessary to create anti-corruption antibodies in the health system".