Croatia's Chief State Attorney's Office will contact the US justice authorities and will take appropriate action in accordance with Croatian laws, the Croatian Ministry of Health said on Wednesday after media reported that the US pharmaceutical company Pfizer agreed to pay USD 60 million to settle charges that it gave bribes to doctors in several countries, including Croatia.
The events that are the subject of the settlement agreement between Pfizer and the US Department of Justice took place from 1997 to 2001. Pfizer employees bribed doctors in Bulgaria, China, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Serbia to prescribe the company's drugs.
The Health Ministry said that Croatian doctors were very responsible and conscientious in treating their patients, and that it was not good that the majority was stigmatised because of wrongdoing by a small number of privileged doctors.
The President of the Croatian Medical Chamber, Dr Hrvoje Minigo, expressed regret that Croatian doctors found themselves on the list, adding that he did not know their names yet.
The Croatian Medical Chamber and the Croatian Medical Association have a common code of medical ethics and deontology which says that a doctor may receive nothing but their regular monthly salary for treating patients, Dr Minigo told the press.
"We as the Medical Chamber may, after court judgements become final, take disciplinary action against the offenders," he said, stressing that "bribery and corruption are incompatible with the medical profession."
