I agree with all 4 main recommendations in the article. To solve any problem, the first step is acknowledging that the problem exists. In order to reach a consensus among different stakeholders, we must clearly define the specific issues we are trying to solve, which in this context is corruption.
However, I believe one reason it is so difficult to acknowledge corruption is that healthcare professionals often hold themselves to high standards of ethics and morality. This can lead to a misconception where they believe they are acting in the best interest of the patient or the system while ignoring or defending practices that are actually part of a corrupt cycle. Therefore, I strongly agree that to effectively tackle corruption, we must move beyond individual morality or victim blaming and focus instead on strengthening the larger system, which I believe can create a larger impact and be more sustainable than focusing on individuals’ cheating. We must create an environment where all stakeholders can talk openly about these issues without feeling defensive about their professional ethics or personal morality. And solving this effectively requires more than just clinical health practices. It must include a multidisciplinary approach to address the root causes of the problem.
In addition, the role of research is also important, especially, as I gathered from our peer discussions, when combined with digitalization and the transparency of open data, it can make an impact to help fight corruption in the system.