'Pharmaceutical companies pay millions to doctors'

amsterdam - The pharmaceutical industry pays medical specialists for specific professions millions for consulting, speaking engagements and expenses at conferences. The industry focuses on certain specialists such as rheumatologists, urologists, internists and pulmonologists. According to research by the Volkskrant.

According to the newspaper received more than 40 percent of rheumatologists and urologists last year money from pharmaceutical companies. For pulmonologists and internists this was more than a third. Doctors organization KNMG said earlier that only a few percent of all physicians moonlights. That average conceals that payments are concentrated in a few specialties.

This produced a list with almost 2400 physicians, jointly 5.6 million from drug companies were last year. Most of this, more than 2.2 million doctors received as compensation for their travel and accommodation expenses for attending conferences.
  
    
     
      
        0:47
      
     Police shoot armed man down
     
     
      
        1:43
      
     Bestelbusrammer log
     
     
      
        0:35
      
     Violent images of Hurricane Hermine
     
    
   
  
  
   
    
    
   
   
    
    
   
   
    
     
     
    
   
 

The Health Inspectorate is investigating whether the specialists with their extra earnings from the pharmaceutical companies have violated the Medicines Act. For this inspection a few months ago the payment information of the doctors in the top ten requested by the Transparency Register. Also wants the inspection data on the highest contract amount, payments and job contracts between pharmacists and specialists.

De Volkskrant analyzed the payments to more than 13 000 medical specialists (more than half of the total) in sixteen disciplines.