Corruption and Users in Douala-Cameroon Public Hospitals: An Evaluation of Determinants

This paper examines the factors that determine an individual's exposure to corruption in public hospitals in Douala, Cameroon. A survey of 407 users who attended these hospitals revealed corruption to be prevalent in services that are offered in sections such as reception, hospitalization and the drugstore. Estimates obtained through odds ratios reveal that in general, the determinants of a user's exposure to corruption vary from one hospital to another and even from one service to another. For example, in the hospitalization service of the General hospital, these determinants are: Income above 250,000 FCFA, gender (male), educational level below university, and age over 40 years. On the contrary, in the hospitalization service of the Bonassama hospital, it is an income below 250,000 FCFA, woman, educational level below university, and age below 40 years. However, the educational level below university appears as a common determinant of corruption in all services and almost all hospitals. This allowed us to propose a typology of hospitals based on the factors behind this phenomenon.