The Effect of Corrupt Practices in Health Care Delivery Systems: A Case Study of Bayelsa State

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.