“GEGHARD”
SCIENTIFIC ANALYTICAL
FOUNDATION
2025
2025
Survey conducted among Azerbaijanis has shown that in Azerbaijan, the healthcare system is the most corrupt sector. In this sector, corruption is more widespread than in the education system, the police, regional centers for labor and social protection, local self-government bodies, and so on.
Studies by various foreign and local organizations have recorded that the majority of citizens in Azerbaijan do not trust the country’s healthcare system. According to the World Health Organization, the average life expectancy in Azerbaijan has increased, and the mortality rate among children and pregnant women has decreased. However, Azerbaijanis continue to distrust local medicine, keeping in mind a reality that differs from official statistics. The main reasons for this distrust include the corruption in medical institutions, as well as the high number of medical errors and negligence.
The conditions in state medical institutions — the poor sanitary state, the low professional qualifications of the medical staff, and the rude attitude toward citizens — have become major sources of dissatisfaction among Azerbaijanis. However, the main issue remains the demand for bribes by low-paid doctors and service personnel from patients and their relatives for for visits, care, hospital rooms, food, and medication.
Although many types of medical service are officially free, unofficial payments make healthcare services expensive for Azerbaijanis. Many citizens prefer to self-medicate or avoid seeing doctors. Home births are particularly widespread in rural areas. Lawlessness and the population’s difficult socio-economic situation has increased the number of people with mental health issues, suicides, and domestic conflicts.
In some cases, doctors also engage in unauthorized practices. It has been revealed that in a number of medical institutions in Azerbaijan, doctors renovate their offices or acquire necessary diagnostic and surgical equipment spending their own money. In order to conduct examinations and treatment, they set higher prices—often deliberately prescribing unnecessary laboratory tests or surgeries for patients.
Under such conditions of so-called 'free medical care,' the widespread impunity for demanding illegal payments for surgeries and treatments becomes an additional cause of deep disappointment.
Citizens are often unable to prove medical errors committed by doctors, including, for example, cases of amputating the right leg instead of the left, misdiagnoses, incorrect treatments, and deaths resulting from them. Unsurprisingly, such incidents are mainly recorded in state medical institutions, where services are more affordable compared to private facilities, even when bribes are involved. Private medical institutions remain inaccessible to many Azerbaijanis, also due to the shortcomings of the health insurance system.
However, solvency or support from charitable organizations are still no guarantee that a patient in Azerbaijan will receive proper care or an accurate diagnosis. For many Azerbaijanis, the preferred option is to undergo examinations and receive treatment in countries such as Turkey, Russia, Germany, Iran, or Belarus. And this is happening despite the fact that significant funds are allocated from the state budget to medical institutions for the treatment and diagnosis of serious illnesses.
It has also been revealed that a number of healthcare institutions have recorded false diagnoses of serious illnesses and inaccurate patient data in order to receive additional funding. Moreover, as a result of corrupt dealings, some citizens have been falsely diagnosed as disabled either to receive state benefits or to avoid military service.
The main place of corruption is not only the Ministry of Health of Azerbaijan but also the National Center of Hematology and Transfusion, the Center for Public Health and Reforms, and the territorial subdivisions of the Administration of the Regional Medical Divisions. Corruption in these include the illegal issuance of permits for medical and pharmaceutical activities and the provision of false certificates in exchange for bribes.
Not coincidentally, the majority of healthcare expenditures are allocated to these institutions. In Azerbaijan, payments for services not rendered are increasing, as well as the allocation of medications to non-existent patients, etc. Furthermore, financial resources allocated for the goal set by Aliyev to make Azerbaijan a medical tourism destination are also being wasted. As a result, thanks to Azerbaijanis, medical tourism is developing in Turkey. Turkey, effectively taking advantage of the flaws in Azerbaijan’s healthcare system, is actively expanding its activities in this sector. Turkey organizes numerous healthcare events, builds private hospitals, and facilitates the transfer of Azerbaijanis to Turkish medical institutions (it is worth noting that Azerbaijan’s former president Heydar Aliyev received treatment in Ankara during the last period of his life).
The fact that corruption in Azerbaijan’s healthcare sector is systemic is confirmed not only by Azerbaijanis living abroad, local and international organizations, and the media, but also by government officials. While representatives of state institutions often try to place blame elsewhere, opposition members mention Ilham Aliyev directly responsible for the corruption-promoting policies in this sector.
Despite reports about the exposure of corruption-related crimes and arrests, numerous healthcare-related corrupt dealings are associated with the name of the President of Azerbaijan, his family, and close associates, particularly regarding the dire state of the pharmaceutical market. In Azerbaijan, the Ministry of Health carries out the procurement of vaccines, medicines, diagnostic and disinfectant materials, and other supplies through tenders. In practice, however, this procedure reduces the level of transparency in the sector.
Although after the adoption of the healthcare sector’s action plan in 2016 it was announced that all chemical medicines would be provided free of charge, a number of drugs necessary for the treatment of malignant blood diseases are not included in the list of free medications. These essential drugs can be obtained only at certain pharmacies in the capital, Baku, and at high prices. It has been recorded that companies involved in the wholesale and retail import and sale of medicines and medical supplies set prices at their own discretion.
An investigation by journalists has revealed that the companies winning state procurement tenders are owned by concrete officials. Among them are 'Zeytun', 'Avromed' LLC, 'Pharm Gafur', 'Azmedcom', and others. 'Zeytun' owns the largest number of pharmacies across Azerbaijan and supplies over 90 percent of the country’s operating clinics and healthcare centers. This system of token tenders was especially prevalent during the Covid-19 period, to such an extent that corruption was described as 'more dangerous than the virus'. During the spread and prevention of the pandemic, corrupt practices in Azerbaijan increased significantly.
There is further evidence of corruption in Azerbaijan's healthcare system, including revelations related to the sale of human organs, even within the armed forces. Specifically, it has been revealed that secret surgeries were performed on patients transferred from Israel in clinics owned by the former Minister of Health. Due to a lack of local specialists, these surgeries were conducted by doctors from Israel who had received special permission from Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Health. Moreover, the removal and transportation of organs were not properly documented.
In fact, the inclusion of Azerbaijan among the most corrupt countries by international organizations is not politically motivated. Rather, it accurately reflects the grave issues prevailing in the country which are covered and managed at the highest levels of authority. Corruption in sectors such as healthcare, education, and other areas of public importance is systemic, posing a threat not only to the Azerbaijani population itself but also to neighboring countries in the region.