LITHUANIA The prescription - a mustard plaster and a glass of vodka.

(From Irish Independent)

Our national health service faced the international indignity of being branded the worst in Europe this week after Lithuania, a country where bribery, corruption and third-world levels of care are endemic features of its health system.

Lithuania, the EU's poorest member after Latvia, where the average national wage is just over 4,000 per annum, helped to bring down the Soviet Union by declaring independence in 1990. However, since then it has been a political disaster. A recent edition ofThe Economist described it as "a story of scandal and missed opportunity".

As with most post-communist countries, a culture of corruption within the public service is still commonplace. Several weeks ago, it was revealed that questions in the Lithuanian language paper for this year's school-leaving exam paper were available for sale in advance.

As far as health is concerned, the hangover from the Soviet model of medical provision still lingers - characterised by an overbearing bureaucracy, doctors assuming control over patients, and the absence of any patient rights' movement.

A tradition in which patients feel compelled to make under-the-counter payments to doctors is still present today in the largest of the three Baltic states, despite the introduction of anti-bribery legislation.

Corruption in the health service manifests itself in the form of gifts and cash donations to doctors in the expectation of better treatment.