Lost case file against doctor points to cover up

An internal probe of a senior doctor at one of the state’s public hospitals has been on the back burner for over a year, with reports suggesting a cover up.

A document that emerged on state television shows that the attorney general has been sending letters to the Health Ministry asking for a disciplinary investigation regarding a senior medical doctor.

But the Legal Services Department has yet to hear back, with the Health Ministry saying it does not have the medic’s case file according to dally Kathimerini.

Knews understands that the auditor general’s office is also involved in the case, with health ministry officials unable to come up with answers even though the case file was delivered to the ministry and receipt was signed by staff.

The internal probe was in connection with possible criminal offences allegedly committed by the senior doctor, who works as a director in an unnamed hospital department. He allegedly was involved, among others accusations, in wrongdoing while referring patients to the private sector and abroad with the state footing the bill.

In 2016, the case against the doctor was put on hold and a second probe, ignoring the circumstances delaying the initial investigation, was closed.

A number of probes and departmental investigations in the public health sector have seen the light of publicity in recent years, with some doctors and hospital staff facing justice for offences that were systematically being swept under the rug in the past.