Uzbekistan to Deploy Undercover Inspectors Across Hospitals and Clinics

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — The Committee for Competition Development and Consumer Rights Protection announced June 12 the launch of covert "mystery patient" inspections across Uzbekistan's healthcare sector, citing a 2.3-fold surge in citizen complaints against medical institutions.

The numbers driving the decision are stark: complaints filed with the Committee against healthcare providers rose from 53 in the comparable period of 2025 to 127 so far in 2026.

Citizens' grievances cluster around a recognizable pattern of commercially motivated over-servicing: deviations from approved clinical protocols, unnecessary diagnostic imaging, superfluous laboratory referrals tied to commercial arrangements with specific labs, and the prescription of unneeded medications and dietary supplements irrelevant to the patient's diagnosed condition.

The inspections will be conducted exclusively using concealed audio and video recording equipment, in line with Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 667 of October 22, 2025, which governs the legal framework for mystery-patient operations covering drug prescriptions, medical device sales, and healthcare service delivery.

To give the inspections regulatory teeth, the Competition Committee and the Ministry of Health have signed a bilateral memorandum of cooperation. Under the agreement, the Ministry will provide expert assessments on whether clinical protocols were followed or violated in each inspected case — supplying the evidentiary foundation for any enforcement action that follows.

The Committee issued a public warning to all medical organizations regardless of ownership structure, calling on them to render services in strict accordance with the law, eliminate bureaucratic obstruction, and provide patients with accurate and comprehensible information.

The initiative marks an escalation in Uzbekistan's effort to curb predatory practices in a healthcare market that has expanded rapidly since partial liberalization, but where regulatory oversight has struggled to keep pace with commercial incentives.