Polish Health crisis - Minister wants out
Warsaw, Poland May 9, 2006 The Polish health system has been having its problems. One of the basic causes of the problems within the health system is that the the system has amassed a huge amount of debt and Polish doctors are not paid very much. In fact what they're paid is actually embarrassing. (See information about doctor payment here. Polish doctors work for peanuts... ) Many doctors have said enough is enough and have gone on strike.
Polish Health Minister Zbigniew Religa has been attempting to make reforms within the health system. He has also been attempting to entice the doctors back to work by offering them a 30% pay increase next year. That is not enough for the doctors. They're staying on strike.
In addition to striking doctors, the country is losing a lot of top talent to other countries in Europe. Doctors find that it pays them to emigrate or to work temporarily in other countries. It is estimated that between 5 and 10 and% of the Polish doctors have emigrated to the West since the year 2004.
Generation to the West can be very advantageous to Polish doctors. For example one anesthesiologist known to this writer was working two jobs in Poland and his monthly pay was 2000 Zloty. He now works in a remote region in Ireland and receives a monthly pay of 16,000 Zloty. He has not permanently emigrated, but he no longer works in Poland. He works in Ireland and travels back to Poland occasionally.
As part of his attempts to reform the Polish Health System Health Minister Religa has reportedly drafted a 100 page document about health system reforms which was to be debated before the Polish parliament on the 10th of May. It is reported that in his document he says that the Polish health system needs additional billions of Zloty to put it on a stable footing. http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L14361980.htm Polish minister to unveil health reform in May
Of course the billions of Polish zloty to be added to the Polish budget is not something that the Polish government wants to hear about. So the Prime Minister, Kaszimierz Marcinkiewicz, postponed the debate in the Polish parliament for 10 days.
Yesterday Minister of Health Religa submitted his resignation to the Prime Minister. He would not comment on the reasons for his resignation.
Outside observers indicate that it is probably due to conflicts that he has been having with the Law and Justice Party government and the Law and Justice Party itself.
It is also said that a Deputy Minister of Health who is a member of a Law and Justice Party has been acting independently and is not controllable by Minister Religa.
Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz did not accept Minister Religa ' s resignation. But it is widely accepted that he will accept it and the new minister of health is likely to be the current deputy minister of health with whom Minister Religa has been in conflict.
The short-term effects of the resignation of an independent expert on health the from the Law and Justice Party government are sure to be continued chaos and strikes by doctors. But more importantly long term effect of his resignation may have some serious consequences for the Law and Justice party.
Minister Religa is not a member of the Law and Justice party. He is a dedicated health professional who has worked hard to cure the ills of the Polish Health system. It is very likely that he will publicly reveal the details of his report on the health system and its need for additional money. He is likely to be a very outspoken critic of the Law and Justice party and its operations within the health system.
He is also likely to be a very outspoken critic of the way the Law and Justice Party operates the government in general.
If what he has to say in his report turns out to be true, the Polish Health System has some serious problems. And if these problems are ignored by the Law and Justice Party, they too will have serious problems
Ironically, Minister Religa may in fact be more effective outside the government than inside. He is independent and will have had the experience of working with in the health system itself. He will also have had the experience of working with law and Justice Party government.
He is highly respected among the Polish people. What he says is likely to be taken to heart by people who currently cannot even get health care services in many of the hospitals where the doctors are striking. And tinkering with people's health is a voting issue that the Law and Justice Party will have to face later.
this is one crisis that the Law and Justice Party will not be able to ignore. And Minister Religa is sure to be sure that they do not ignore.
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