Poles queue up to five years to undergo surgery, shows a report by the Supreme Auditing Chamber (NIK).

The Chamber monitored orthopedic, urological, neurosurgical wards in several dozen hospitals in Poland and found that as many as 2,758 patients are waiting for a surgery at an orthopedic ward in the Clinical Hospital in the eastern city of Lublin. Patients had to wait up to 1,824 days for a surgery.

“Patients have to wait longer for surgeries because some people undergo operations without waiting for their turn and without doctor’s recommendations. Faulty medical equipment, organizational mess, lack of personnel, lack of money are also the reasons why it takes so long,” explains Jacek Jezierski from NIK.

In August, in the Baby Jesus Hospital in Warsaw as many as 60 people underwent operations without queuing even though only nine cases were qualified as urgent. In 20 percent of the Polish hospitals people who were not included in the waiting lists would undergo surgeries and in 40 percent of hospitals the order on the waiting lists did not correspond to the actual order of patients who underwent an operation.

According to the NIK’s report, 17 percent of hospitals and 25 percent of clinics did not distinguish “urgent cases” from “stable cases” which encouraged malpractice. In many hospitals waiting lists were not updated and included patients who underwent surgeries elsewhere or died.

“Queues result mainly from the lack of money. Demand for surgeries is higher than the National Health Fund can pay for. As many as 62 percent of hospitals performed 100 percent or even more surgeries commissioned by the National Health Fund,” says Jezierski.

NIk also found that medical equipment in many hospitals is worn out and because of that surgeries are postponed. In 13 percent of hospitals there were not enough doctors and nurses to perform surgeries. (mg/pg)

Source: IAR, PAP